Jared is a pretty average 17-year-old: he goes to school, works part-time, hangs out with his friends and has a crush on the girl who just moved in across the street. Michelle Latimer, the celebrated Algonquin and Métis director who co-created the show based on the Eden Robinson novel “ Son of a Trickster,” calls the series a “decolonial coming-of-age story.” “Trickster” should go a long way to meeting that goal. “There’s so many people who are just so used to that old narrative of just like a native on horseback with the bow and arrow,” says Joel Oulette, the Red River Métis and Swampy Cree actor who plays Jared. And Jared, the teenager at the heart of the story, gets a motorized scooter to help with his after-school job delivering fast-food chicken. This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 1, 2020.First things first: no one is riding horses in the new Indigenous drama “Trickster,” coming to CBC on Oct. I don't know if it's just the time we’re in right now, where we're actually questioning society and how we want to move forward, but it feels like we're breaking down a lot of structures to build this new world.” There's an appetite out there for Indigenous TV shows, she said, and proof lies in the enthusiastic reception the "Trickster" trailer on YouTube over the summer, as people excitedly marked their calendars for the debut. Latimer considers those hopeful signs for "Trickster," and she would like to see similar efforts put into future Indigenous television projects that break new genre boundaries in their own way. The broadcaster has already renewed the show for a second season, and put significant heft into marketing it across the country, with sneak previews of episodes at several Canadian film festivals, and ample TV spots plugging the launch date. "I have a sense of how frustrating it is to have our stories told by other people and not being trusted with the reins."Įven before its debut, CBC has shown considerable confidence in the series, which could easily be a franchise in the making. Latimer pledged to hire skilled Indigenous crew members and pay interns who would be part of a mentorship program designed to bolster their film experience and help them take control of their own futures in the industry. Robinson said she was floored by Latimer's commitment to not just Indigenous representation in front of the camera, but establishing "an incubator of talent" on her production team as well. Latimer won the rights to the book after sending Robinson a heartfelt letter that explained why she was the right person to make the series over bigger production houses who were chasing the project. “I'm an Indigenous person of mixed ancestry, who has grown up with both cultures, and I think that's an experience that's very common in Canada.” “I grew up going to superhero movies, seeing creatures, watching old Cronenberg films and Hitchcock,” Latimer said. It’s a highly accessible show that leans heavily into fantasy elements, from its magical teenager who evokes characteristics of Harry Potter, to the shadowy monsters that seem inspired by the works of Guillermo del Toro and David Cronenberg.Ĭo-creator Michelle Latimer says she made "Trickster" with popular culture references in mind. “Trickster” arrives with much promise for Indigenous creators who are aspiring to a career on mainstream television. The experiences send him in pursuit of answers that point back to secrets harboured by his own family and special powers he might not yet recognize they all share. The six-episode first season dives into a supernatural world of mystery that unfolds when Jared, an Indigenous high school student from Kitimat, B.C., begins to experience an escalating series of strange events.įirst, he runs into his doppelganger for a brief moment, and not long after he’s confronted by a crow who delivers a cryptic message before vanishing. The experience was “surreal,” she admits, and it’s one she’s still coming to terms with ahead of the anticipated CBC debut of “Trickster” on Oct. Instead of picturing her protagonist Jared in the way she always had, she says she started seeing the TV show's stoic teenage lead actor Joel Oulette in his place.Īctress Crystle Lightning took the part of Jared's mother Maggie in her mind, and she pictured Anna Lambe as Jared's friend Sarah. That presented her with a challenge as she wrote the third novel in the series earlier this year. “It's weird to see someone alive, saying your dialogue,” Robinson said. The “Son of a Trickster” author, who's from the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, found that once she saw who was cast in the adaptation, she couldn't unsee the actors as the characters she created. TORONTO - Eden Robinson says the actors in CBC’s upcoming mystical-thriller “Trickster” have winnowed their way into her imagination.
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