A Conversation with Cody Lightning

A Family Affair and an Easygoing Approach
A Conversation with Cody Lightning
by Tom Pearson

Cody Lightning has been an actor for most of his life, starring in film and television since he was five years old. After the festival ended, we had a chance to sit down and discuss his participation in Laura Shamas’s play Chasing Honey, his family, his experience as a child actor, and his easygoing approach to acting and his career in independent film.

Tom: I got to talk to a lot of the writers and directors, but didn’t get much of an opportunity to speak to the actors because you were all in rehearsals most of the time. Gary Farmer sat in on our writers round table, and it was nice to hear his perspective on the issues. He was telling us about bridging that transition between when Native roles were written mostly by non-Natives and when Native people started writing. You sort of began your career during a time when Native writers were becoming very active, right?

Cody: I started really young, and I know a lot of the Native writers and directors in the biz because my mom is involved in the biz. So’s my sister, you know? It’s a family thing. I’ve been a part of projects I took on when I was younger just to kind of start building a resume and get experience, not necessarily roles I liked, but just to get experience and get our name out there. And we did a ton of work for non-Native writers, writing Native buckskin roles for television and movies and stuff like that. And, you know, it’s the Hollywood version of things, and it’s really sugar coated and watered down and so far off from the truth.

Tom: Usually from a historical point of view rather than anything contemporary?

Cody: Yeah, yeah. And you know, the sad thing is, that’s just how the general public watches movies. Whatever they see on TV they believe, and everybody thinks that Dances with Wolves and Into the West and all those buckskin movies are how it really is. You know, it’s really fabricated.

Tom: How old were you when you started?

Cody: I started in the industry when I was five years old.

Tom: And you are twenty-two now?

Cody: Yeah. I started on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as an extra a couple of times, and did my first film, Geronimo, the TNT version, with a couple of big Native names. And then my sister got one of the three Ninja movies, and one time we all played brother and sisters, all three of us in a film called Tecumseh. When you’re younger, you don’t really pay attention to the politics and all that of Native cinema or art or whatever. Now that I’m older, ‘cause I took off when I was fifteen, I did this whole rebellious thing and took on my career on my own and started picking and choosing which projects I wanted to be a part of. It was tough for my mom. ‘Cause you know, I’m the youngest, and it was hard for her ‘cause I was leaving. She got upset a couple of times because she wanted me to audition for a Spielberg film, and I read it and didn’t want to be a part of it. You know, if it was a cool part, I wouldn’t mind, like a cool, sic warrior or something like that…

Tom: Something that would appeal to a fifteen year old [laughing]?

Cody: [Laughing] Yeah, yeah yeah, something really cool. And I clashed with agents and stuff too, and I just wanted to be put out for a lot more. I was really choosy and they were like, “Well, you’re not really established enough to make those kinds of choices.” And I just kind of said, “Screw that. I just won’t be a part of it then.” And I got a lot of work, networking on my own and just word of mouth. A lot of friends I worked with when I was younger would give me a call hey for a day player role or something. That’s how I got involved in different projects. But you know, the whole Native thing, right now, I’m kind of steering away from that. You know, I am mixed blood and able to grow tons of facial hair and all that stuff, so I want to be put out for Middle Eastern roles, and Russian roles, and Spanish roles, and everything, not just be an Indian on TV because it’s an Indian role. I want to do projects that I like, and I think are cool or interesting or that will challenge me as an actor.

Tom: I wanted to ask you about your friendship with Gary Farmer. You read the roles of father and son in Laura Shamas’s play, Chasing Honey. How many times have you and Gary worked together?

Cody: On screen just once, in Smoke Signals when I played young Victor and he played the dad. But Gary is like an uncle to me, and you know, whenever he is in LA or any artist or musician or actor for that matter… Our family is kind of known in LA in the Native film industry and community, so you know, we had a very open, welcoming house. Gary would come and stay for a month or something here or there when he was in town doing gigs, or our other friend Adam. We had a very open household. But working with Gary, this has only been my third time, but I just know him on a personal level too, so it’s easy to work with him. It’s not that hard actually. He makes it really easy.

Tom: It was incredible how immediately believable everything was in that reading and how natural.

Cody: How it flowed?

Tom: Yeah. Those characters felt so right, and the relationships were very believable. But I was wondering, you had such a short time to put this all together. How did you approach that challenge?

Cody: Any script or sides I read, images and people pop into my mind right away, or other films that I’ve seen. And when I read this, I forget what movies popped into my head, but one was a film I actually acted in because it was similar, a little love story between my character and Cara [Gee]’s character [Sandy], and I actually did a film a couple of years ago that was kind of a love story like that. So it wasn’t too far off for me to kind of hit that mark again. Rehearsing it was a big thing too, but I don’t know, whatever I feel, a lot of people said that the classroom stuff was really funny because there was a lot of ourselves in there. I’m a goofball, in general, and have a really goofy sense of humor, and there were a couple of times when we really pushed for that, to see what kind of reaction we’d get, and people were just eating it right up and laughing. Even at points where we were just being ourselves, people were really still thinking it was funny. But approaching roles, it’s actually not hard. A lot of people think acting is hard, from like watching Inside the Actor’s Studio. Acting, truthfully, is very easy. It’s natural. Whenever I read some material, images and people pop into my head and I just try to recreate that.

Tom: Yeah, my criticism when watching actors a lot of the time is that a person is putting too much in. That was something that was really nice about all of the plays in this festival, just how easy all those relationships felt.

Cody: It’s like less is more a lot of times. If you feel in yourself as a performer that you are really trying too hard a lot of times, it’s not going to look right. A lot of people say I seemed so comfortable, but actually I was really freakin’ nervous cause this is only like my third or fourth thing I’ve done in front of people. You know, film is different because you work with all the people everyday, and you get used to that, and you get a couple of takes, but this is you know… If it was just a couple of us, I would’ve gotten more nervous, but since it was like seven or eight of us, I’m like, “Okay, I’m cool. These are all my friends.” I was totally comfortable, and then when we got down to line up, my heart started pounding, and I started breathing heavy, and I’m like “Wow, am I getting nervous? Oh shit.” [Laughing]

Tom: How do you think a festival like this furthers the work of Native artists?

Cody: Well, you get a script, you have only a few days of rehearsal, and then you do it in front of people, and it’s really hands on. Its good for everyone involved, people watching, the actors, the writers, the directors because it just puts you to work. I’ve been involved in other film stuff like that, but not stage stuff, you know, 48-hour film festivals and you just have to write this, use these props, and make it in this amount of time, and edit it, and be done. It just puts you to work. I think, in that sense, it really helps. Especially with acting, on my part, mostly on film and TV, you get sides and you get to read them over and over and then practice. But this, it’s like you have a whole script. You have three days. And then you do it in front of people. So it just puts you on the rocks as a performer. It’s good because it kind of a tests you. Same with the writers because a couple of them have had their scripts read a few other times, but this is, like, the first time in front of a large crowd and acted out a little bit, not just sitting on stage reading.

Tom: I think its really useful for the writers, not only to have their plays read, but to have such great actors, to see if their play were to be everything it could and have a great cast, how it would sound, how it would look…

Cody: And the writers and directors and actors, just the crowd response lets you know if you are doing it right and to hear, like I said earlier, some moments we were not even trying to be funny, and people were cracking up. And for the writers, they could see that because some are going to revise theirs or tighten them up or add other characters before they are read again, and it helps them in the writing process also, not just the acting but the writing part of it.

Tom: You said you spent half your time here, half in LA, and some in Idaho. Where do you come from originally?

Cody: Hobbema, Alberta, Canada. Hobbema’s a reserve South of Edmonton and that’s a really rough reserve, and that’s the main reason my mom wanted us to move away from there because it’s really, you know, it’s home. It’s our people. But it’s really polluted in a lot of ways. I spent my summers and winters up there as a kid to visit family. But you know, it’s really toxic right now, and it’s like, you know, I don’t know what that’s saying, I mean, being in the crab bowl or something, and every time one tries to climb out the others pull him back in. A lot of people move away to Edmonton, which is the bigger town, and they end up coming back. My mom said, “Screw this,” you know, “I’m going to move to LA, go to school, make it happen with my family,” and she did. And for a few years, people were like, “Oh you’ll be back, whatever.” A lot of people, even our family members were like down-talking, “You’re not going to make it. And I can’t believe you are doing this.” And we’ve been nothing but successful. I mean, there were tough times, going up and down, and then one of us would get a project, and you know, we did it as a unit. We did it as a family. It wasn’t like if I did a film or my sister or brother, it’s not like we got all our… it went to our whole family, the money we made, the exposure, everything was about our family. It wasn’t just individual.

Tom: Do people back home recognize that?

Cody: Oh yeah. And a lot of people now and even people, you know, you have a few supporters and a few people that are really positive, and there’s some that are like, “Oh well, we’ll see how it works.” And then some that are down and just, “You ain’t going to make it,” and even those people that were super down are, like, “You know what? I really am proud of you guys.” It’s a good feeling to go back home and have people, even who you don’t know, know who you and your family are and what you’ve accomplished. And people don’t realize, a lot of people think that if you’re in movies, that means you must be rich and all this stuff, and it’s like, “I am dirt poor.” I grew up on welfare. We shared one room, my brother sister and I. We shared one tiny room in an apartment. People don’t understand that part of it.

Tom: I think that’s how people measure success a lot of times, by money or recognition, and I think people think they are synonymous. If you have one, you have the other. They don’t understand that you can be at the top of your game and still not be able to pay your rent.

Cody: I do a lot of independent film, and that right there is just broke, you know? Doing indie films don’t make you money. They give you exposure and a good feel for other artists and actors and stuff, but as far as money – independent filmmaker equals broke.

Tom: What other projects are you working on next, or now?

Cody: I’m writing a script, co-writing with a couple of other friends. We have a short film going around that I acted in and co-wrote called Floating. It’s just this over-the-top stoner comedy. Its about nine minutes long, and is just this crazy phone conversation with an ex-girlfriend. And we actually just showed that for the first time at imagineNATIVE Film Festival [imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival] in Toronto, and it was our first time watching it with an audience on the big screen, and people just loved it. It went so well. And we’re working on the feature called Sinking. So the short is Floating and the feature is going to be called Sinking. And it’s just three dudes, you know, that go out and have crazy times, and their stories all intertwine and come together in the end. That’s one that we’re writing right now, and I’m actually flying back to Idaho in about a week to work on a short. It’s about a food eating competition and it’s trying to eat this nine-pound cheeseburger, and the guy gets sick, and he has a training montage for it. It’s all over-the-top, crazy, you know?

Tom: The training montage [laughing]…

Cody: Yeah. You know, the stuff I make is usually funny. When I was having a tough time writing and putting all my thoughts and visions on paper, a couple of my filmmaker friends were just like, “Just write how you talk, and tell stories and it will work.” And I’ve done that, and it works out, and it’s really funny because, you know, I don’t want to go out and be Mr. Funny Man. But I know, because of my sense of humor and the kind of people I affiliate myself with, if I think it’s funny, I know a couple of other people will think it’s funny. I’m not trying to give it to the whole world and expect everyone to like it, but if my select group of friends like it, that’s who I’m aiming for, not really anybody else. So those are a couple of things I’ve been working on. I don’t have an agent right now, so I’m not auditioning much, but I have a couple of friends who are writing parts for me, and that’s how I get a lot of my work, not through agents or stuff like that, but going to festivals, networking, meeting directors, writers, becoming friends with them, showing them different sides of myself so that they keep me in mind when they are writing parts.

Tom: Is this festival another one of those places where you might see the results of those relationships down the road?

Cody: Yeah, because there could be other writers. That’s how I’ve had people contact me on the last couple of projects I’ve gotten. Up until about a couple of years ago, I was auditioning a ton for anything that came up, and you know, I wasn’t really attached to the projects. I was just doing them to do them and not really having a good feel for them, not really attached. And I read an article on Owen Wilson, actually, and apparently he had only auditioned three times in his life. He doesn’t audition. Same with Bill Murray. They don’t mess with agents or auditions. They have people write stuff for them, and they have a little group, and they write stuff for each other and with each other and it’s like, yeah, that’s what I like.

Tom: So, you’ve been an actor most of your life, and you are writing now too. What do you see yourself doing, long term? Do you want to sort of straddle both worlds?

Cody: Oh yeah, yeah. I want to write, and direct stuff, and act in stuff. You know, I just like being a part of projects no matter what. Even if it’s a PA. I just like being a part of projects, and I have friends that, you know, didn’t want me to be an actor in their project, but it’s like, “I’ll get you guys coffee.” It doesn’t matter. I just like being a part of the film and entertainment world because it’s what I know. I’ve even worked Art Department on certain projects. People are like, “Oh, hey Cody, what’s up man? So you got a part?” and I’m like, “No, I’m actually working Art Department, and they’re like, “Oh, okay. Wow, you do that?”