{"id":17647,"date":"2010-06-01T13:14:01","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T17:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=17647"},"modified":"2020-05-01T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T14:46:02","slug":"chasing-molly-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/chasing-molly-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Irene Bedard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chasing Molly<\/h1>\n

The actress who voiced Pocahontas<\/em> is out to rescue Native Americana from Hollywood\u2019s cliches by putting the story of Maine\u2019s iconic, silent-film star\u2013who danced for royalty and took Paris by fire\u2013up on the silver screen.<\/h4>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/em><\/p>\n

\"bedard\"The voice of Disney\u2019s Pocahontas<\/em> is seductive and smooth as she speaks on the telephone\u2013exactly<\/em> the impression actress Irene Bedard<\/strong> doesn\u2019t want to convey, because even our politically-correct-obsessed 21st century dismisses Native Americans by over-romanticizing them.<\/p>\n

Bedard, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Indian Island\u2019s princess Molly Spotted Elk <\/strong>(born Mary Alice Nelson), dreams of producing a movie about the raven-haired beauty.<\/p>\n

The 1920s Penobscot actress, dancer, musician, poet, and nightclub siren performed in Broadway venues, danced for European royalty, and lived the life of a glamorous ex-pat in Paris until forced to flee during World War II. It\u2019s a story full of irony and wistfulness that Bedard first became aware of over a decade ago when she read the actress\u2019s biography, Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris<\/em>, by Bunny McBride, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer who spends summers in Bar Harbor researching and working with the Abbe Museum. The book vividly recounts the story of Maine\u2019s Penobscot Nation and its famous daughter.<\/p>\n

But can a film project about a gorgeous Native American starlet\u2013\u201dthe first<\/em>,\u201d Bedard points out, who unabashedly shimmered on screen\u2013avoid stereotypes?<\/p>\n

Bedard knows about these dangers too well. She\u2019s got Maine roots (her mother was an Inupiat Eskimo and her father a French Canadian\/Cree from Skowhegan), and she, too, has struggled as an actress to find the courage to rise above exploitation, even from well-meaning production companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so funny,\u201d says Bedard, 43, of the Disney role that made her<\/em> a household voice to little girls across the globe. \u201cPocahontas was only eleven and a half when she met John Smith, and twelve when she threw herself over him to save him.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why did a politically aware woman of twenty-seven agree to play the part?<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, I loved<\/em> Disney on Sunday nights. You\u2019d see the castle and Tinkerbell going across the screen. I knew being part of something like that could be something your grandchildren will see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney or not, it was still an emotional decision. She grew up hearing the word \u201cPocahontas\u201d used pejoratively. \u201cTo me, the one thing that stuck in my mind was having been called \u2018Pocahontas\u2019 in a derogatory way.\u201d (As in, \u2018Nice parallel parking, Pocahontas.\u2019)<\/p>\n

Besides, this serious actress had already experienced the indignation of having her character role neatly wrapped in a pretty little package in the Disney live-action film Squanto: A Warrior\u2019s Tale<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first line in the movie is, \u2018Was there good hunting, Squanto?\u2019 A stereotypical line. He\u2019d just come back from the ocean<\/em> and had been gone for weeks on a hunt. Men don\u2019t survive from this! There was this huge relief and celebration, and the very first thing she says is, \u2018Squanto, was there good hunting?\u2019 I fought the battle, and I lost the battle to a certain point. What I did was, knowing it was a Disney movie, I ran up to him and said the same words <\/em>in a different <\/em>way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedard\u2019s intentional change of tone\u2013from innocent and earnest to suggestive and coquettish\u2013made her point, and then it went straight to the cutting-room floor. Her dialogue was edited to a single word: \u201cSquanto!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I accomplished my goal in sort of a sideways way. I learned I not only had to stand up for the personal directives of my character but also the cultural perspectives of my character. The best way was not to say, \u2018No, this doesn\u2019t work.\u2019 It was, \u2018Let me show you, let me teach you, here\u2019s an alternative.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On the set of Lakota Woman<\/em>, knowing Bedard was wrestling with the guilt and wonder of taking on the Pocahontas<\/em> gig,\u201cthe famous Native American actress Tantoo Cardinal saw me thinking about it and said, \u2018Irene, I know you. You\u2019re strong and a native woman. I know you will fight every battle that needs to be fought. You are the right person for this job. Take it<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was another \u2018manifest destiny\u2019 part. I\u2019d just done Squanto<\/em>, one of the manifest destiny characters, and now it\u2019s Pocahontas<\/em>\u2013a manifest destiny character written into a history by the victors\u2026[portraying Indians as those] who helped and pushed along the prevailing society. I went down and met with [Disney].\u201d<\/p>\n

Which brings us, after many ambitious roles and hunts for edgy, modern parts for Native American actresses, to Bedard\u2019s dream of chasing Molly Spotted Elk and her legend to make a movie that will make a difference, that will not require \u201ccompromised truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have started Bundle of Arrows production company. Our first projects are a couple of contemporary projects with full native cast and crew, but Molly Spotted Elk is something I\u2019ve had in mind for so long. I\u2019d like to work with a French production entity or director so we can shoot in Paris. Her story is epic in scale, so I need a director who can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Molly Spotted Elk was a gifted poet and what the Penobscots call \u201cone of the hard ones\u201d (that is, endowed with spiritual powers), Bedard envisions mystical interior monologue to accompany Molly\u2019s deep story arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s coming from this small place and going to New York City and trying to fit into the prevalent society and realizing she\u2019s not going to be able to take what\u2019s truly at her heart\u2013her cultural beauty\u2013with her, because there was no place for it to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly\u2019s search for cultural acceptance eventually draws her to Paris, where\u2013like Josephine Baker\u2013she found appreciation for her caramel skin and unusual cultural heritage. \u201c[It was] go to Paris, go to what\u2019s close to your heart, you know, make this trek across the ocean<\/em> to be this really exotic human being who doesn\u2019t speak their language, yet [in daring to do this] she finds a way to become herself with her particular artistic beauty and really grow and become a beautiful, shining thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly was happy in France, where she met and eventually married French political journalist Jean Archambaud. They had a daughter, Jean. When World War II hit France, Molly and her daughter had to flee across the Pyrenees without her husband (a known anti-Nazi activist), who was directing the Red Cross Relief efforts near Bordeaux. Molly never saw or heard from him again.<\/p>\n

It was a turning point in Molly\u2019s life. \u201cShe went through a real dark period and was institutionalized for a time. Then she went to New York, but her soul was damaged\u2026I think going back to Indian Island in Maine and discovering her poetry and dance and basket weaving and the creativity\u2013I think that idea, of walking in beauty, was her triumph in life. She learned how to find beauty on her own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked which scenes she\u2019s itching to shoot first, Bedard says immediately, \u201cI think of her being in the chorus line in vaudeville, where there\u2019s this line of women and they move at the same time, wear the same clothes, and yet there\u2019s something so different<\/em>, so out-of-this-world, about her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she fought to say, \u2018Hey, I want to perform traditional dances,\u2019 they put her in a short outfit with a feather on her head. It was such a stereotype in the shape of sexual dismissal and spiritually where she wasn\u2019t coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how Bedard will avoid caricature within the Molly project, she\u2019s going to visit Maine extensively to better understand Molly\u2019s haunts here.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yes. Definitely. My father actually was from Skowhegan, so I have family in Maine that I visit; in fact, I\u2019ll be there this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because she understands the importance of getting things right, Bedard is willing to take her time with this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just one woman, doing the work I can do. I don\u2019t speak for all Native Americans because no one can. I try my best to be honest and truthful\u2026My whole concept is to bring us into contemporary society. We\u2019ve done the historical stories; now it\u2019s time to be romantic, comedic, and contemporary, and a lot of Molly\u2019s life [resonates with this].\u201d<\/p>\n

What might Molly tell Bedard, her fellow actor, from across the years once filming begins? \u201cShe\u2019d tell me that loving her daughter, and the love she had for her husband, was the most important work of her life. The love of her people. For her, it\u2019s all about finding your true heart through love and beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bookmark<\/a><\/p>\n

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