A NEW FRONTIER FABLE TNT'S 'INTO THE WEST' AIMS FOR AN EPIC - AND HONEST - TREATMENT OF AMERICA'S EXPANSION.Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer 'How the West Was Won,'' the 1962 Cinemascope extravaganza from John Ford and three other directors, was billed at its release as ``the mightiest adventure ever filmed.'' TNT's six-part miniseries ``Into the West'' seems to be challenging that claim. ``How the West Was Won'' may still hold the title for mightiest names in its credits - Henry Fonda, John Wayne, James Stewart and Gregory Peck were among its 24 stars - but ``Into the West'' is likely to garner more praise from historians. Both films center on multiple generations of a pair of families witnessing change in the rugged American West during most of the 1800s. ``How the West Was Won'' had only three American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. characters in its extensive cast; in ``Into the West,'' a Lakota clan is one of the two families. In a genre rife with cut-and-dried images of good and evil, executive producer Steven Spielberg Noun 1. Steven Spielberg - United States filmmaker (born in 1947) Spielberg stressed authenticity, leading to characters and scenarios that have more gray areas. And the hardships that American Indians American Indians: see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the; Natives, Middle American; Natives, North American; Natives, South American. , mountaineers and wagon train wagon train, in U.S. history, a group of covered wagons used to convey people and supplies to the West before the coming of the railroad. The wagon replaced the pack, or horse, train in land commerce as soon as proper roads had been built. travelers endured is not glossed over. Actors Matthew Settle Matthew Settle (born September 17, 1969 in Hickory, North Carolina) is an American actor best known for playing Capt. Ronald Speirs on the HBO show Band of Brothers. He is the youngest of six, having two sisters and three brothers. , Keri Russell, Skeet Ulrich and Tonantzin Carmelo recently sat down for interviews in a posh Beverly Hills hotel The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, at 9641 Sunset Boulevard. It was opened on May 12, 1912 and started by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. , dining from room service carts as they recalled with some fondness the bitter cold, mud and sweat of filming in the plains and mountains of Alberta Most of Alberta's mountains are found in the south-western part of the province of Alberta on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies . Other elevated spots can be found in the Caribou Mountains and the Cypress Hills. . Settle talked about learning how to make wagon wheels for his role as Jacob Wheeler, the first in his fictional Virginia family to be bitten by the Western migration bug. And there was learning that many 19th-century gun toters killed themselves unintentionally by overloading their rifles with gunpowder and having the ramrod launch at them like an arrow. ``The hardest part was really just the elements, but that was the great part, too,'' said Russell, who plays Naomi Wheeler, Jacob's cousin, who joins him on a wagon train bound for California. ``We were shooting in these wide-open spaces, so if it was hot and sunny that day, it was really hot and sunny. Even the little kids, everyone was getting sunburned sun·burn n. Inflammation or blistering of the skin caused by overexposure to direct sunlight. tr. & intr.v. sun·burned or sun·burnt , sun·burn·ing, sun·burns To affect or be affected with sunburn. . And then within hours it would be snowing.'' Those inclined to simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple summaries might describe the ``Into the West'' recipe as ``Roots'' and ``Dances With Wolves'' with a dash of ``North and South.'' But that would discount the mega-budgeted epic's careful research as well as the fullness of its characters and its rarely examined story angles. While ``How the West Was Won'' took on the Civil War, ``Into the West'' looks at the Quantrill Raiders' bloody 1863 attack on abolitionists in Lawrence, Kan. It also depicts the 1849 California Gold Rush  The California Gold Rush 1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. not as a path to instant wealth but as a cause of hardship and tragedy. The series concludes after the notorious 1891 battle at Wounded Knee. In many ways, the actors said, ``Into the West'' differed from their preconceptions of the entertainment form known as the Western. Settle thought he would be learning how to twirl a gun. Wrong. Ulrich, who plays Jacob's brother Jethro, says that when he thinks ``Western,'' the word that comes to mind is ``misrepresentation misrepresentation In law, any false or misleading expression of fact, usually with the intent to deceive or defraud. It most commonly occurs in insurance and real-estate contracts. False advertising may also constitute misrepresentation. .'' Carmelo, who plays Thunder Heart Woman, the Lakota girl Jacob marries, is a descendant of the California Mission band Gabrielino/Tongva, the original settlers of Los Angeles. She said she is only vaguely familiar with traditional movie Westerns. ``I know that the good guy is normally the cowboy and the bad guy is normally the Indian - and the Indian is normally an Italian,'' she said with a laugh. Russell admits she was hoping for a Hollywood-style action picture, a prospect she says she has not given up on. ``I just thought, 'Oh, I'm going to get to ride and be a badass bad·ass Vulgar Slang n. A mean-tempered or belligerent person. adj. Mean; belligerent. . I can shoot a gun, I hope.' It didn't exactly come true, but I did get to ride horses and learn how to mount bareback bare·back also bare·backed adv. & adj. On a horse or other animal with no saddle: rode bareback; a bareback rider. .'' The project became more than a history lesson. For some, it was deeply spiritual. For Settle, one such moment was when he appeared with Bald Eagle, a real chief, as they filmed Jacob's ritual acceptance into the tribe as the husband of Thunder Heart Woman. ``Here I am in this tent being received into this family - Jacob Wheeler is being received - and I felt like these people doing this ceremony weren't acting. I felt like I wasn't acting. I felt for a second that it was really happening.'' He and Carmelo also spoke of being moved by their participation in a sweat lodge sweat lodge Hut or lodge used for ritual purification. Its use originated with Native Americans—for whom it remains a significant ceremony—but it is now common among other non-Indian groups who recognize its health as well as spiritual benefits. , a sacred Lakota ceremony of humility and spiritual cleansing in which a group gathers in a closed tent with an intense fire for sacred songs and prayers. The Lakota consultants organized the ceremony to bless the shoot before it began. ``I sang a song from my ancestors in the sweat lodge, just to offer what I could,'' said Carmelo, who has performed traditional music for years. She said she heard the same song later that evening at her hotel as she was taking a bath. It was so loud and clear, she thought her mother was playing a tape of it. ``And when I went outside I said, 'Mom, where did you get that tape?' 'What tape?' So I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where that came from. ... I heard the song sung back to me, as if it were in the next room, by the spirits.'' Just as his films ``Schindler's List'' and ``Saving Private Ryan'' have become teaching tools about the Holocaust and Americans' role in World War II, Spielberg is said to be hopeful that ``Into the West'' will be seen in classrooms for years to come. ``It was a great, great thing to be a part of,'' Ulrich said. ``I think it's something you can show your kids and they can show their kids and it will tell the story in the best way possible.'' Valerie Kuklenski, (818) 713-3750 valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com INTO THE WEST What: Six-part miniseries following generations of two American families during the westward expansion of the 19th century. Where: TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. . When: Part one airs 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Remaining episodes premiere at 8 p.m. Fridays with Saturday and Sunday repeats (except weekend of July 1) through July 24. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) A NEW FRONTIER Steven Spielberg's miniseries aims to tell the real story of the `West' (2) Matthew Settle plays a Virginia man who marries a Lakota woman (Tonantzin Carmelo) in TNT's ``Into the West.'' |
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