Not bad for a day's work so to speak when an unexpected movie's success goes on to earn 12 Academy Award Nominations bringing home 7 wins. Dances with Wolves is a film of epic proportion. In addition to its Academy Award nominations and wins, it is the first Western film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1931's Cimarron, thereby establishing it as one of the most honored films of 1990.
Within the film are memorable moments and scenes that capture the heart, mind and soul to be relived over and over again as visions appear when something or someone brings it back into the forefront.
Based on a novel by Michael Blake, the film was shot on location, primarily in South Dakota, and contained Lakota dialogue with English-language subtitles. Because of the film's popular and lasting impact on the image of Native Americans, the Sioux Nation adopted Costner as an honorary member.
During the scene where the buffalo is charging at the young Indian, the
buffalo is actually charging at a pile of its favorite treat: Oreo
cookies.
Kevin did all his own riding, including bare back and shooting his gun without holding the reins, during the buffalo hunt.
Kevin Costner's
spreading out of his arms while doing his suicide run at the start of
the film was a completely spontaneous gesture that took his stunt
coordinator by surprise.
To add realism to the movie, a language coach was brought in to teach
Lakota to cast members who did not know how to speak it. Because of the
difficulty in learning the language, the "gendered speech" aspects of
the language were omitted from the lessons. When native speakers of
Lakota saw the finished film, they found it amusing to hear Lakota
warriors talking like women.
The man seen initially telling the wolf to go home when Dunbar is riding
out to visit his friends is actually the trainer. He was bitten in the
leg when the wolf chased him, so Costner had to run himself during the
next shot. He kept throwing pieces of raw meat to keep the wolf from
biting him.
A Bit of Dances with Wolves Music Trivia...
Composer John Barry did
not use any cymbals in the entire score. Although tom-toms are used
extensively, and military drums are playing during some of the army
scenes, there are no cymbals.
What is your favorite scene that you cannot get out of your head?
No comments:
Post a Comment