Vreeke told casting director Patti Kalles about them and Elaine was asked to go in with Armenia to audition , much to her annoyance . She had no acting experience prior to this . Elaine ’ s response was “ Mom , I ’ m not 60 . I ain ’ t going in there .” That conversation was also in Nez Perce and Cayuse language — if only the creators knew what Elaine and her mom said to each other !
character to be Marilyn ’ s mom . Both of them started acting two days later .
Lisa Skvarla , who worked with Elaine on the series and has many fond memories of the show , said she was perfectly cast for the role . She noticed some similarities between Elaine and her character , particularly how they were both quiet .
From there , Elaine ’ s acting career blossomed and she took on roles in other films and TV shows such as “ Skins ,” “ Smoke Signals ,” “ The Business of Fancydancing ,” “ Bill Nye The Science Guy ,” and “ The Rez ” among other roles . Elaine said she usually picks and chooses her roles … most are specifically written for her .
Elaine eventually went in and was asked to read Marilyn ’ s first two lines . After they left and made their way to the powwow , they arrived at their hotel room to find that Elaine ’ s dad had left multiple messages for them . Turns out they each received a callback for an audition . The producers liked Armenia and Elaine ’ s interaction so much that they rewrote Marilyn as a younger character and created a new
Elaine was very excited to work on “ Smoke Signals ” because it was the first feature-length film written , directed , and produced by Native Americans . She also had fun working on “ The Business of Fancydancing ” but was sad it didn ’ t receive as much attention as the previous film . This year she plays Florence in “ The Last of Us ,” an original character not featured in the videogames .
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