“ My concern was that they would never have been able to find an Indian kid who could act well enough and who was a good enough basketball player to play me,” Mr. Alexie said in a recent interview, adding that basketball was even more important to him than “the Indianness of me.” As it did during his own youth, salvation for his misfit protagonist, Junior, comes when he quits the reservation and excels on an all-white high school team. “I’d rather see myself played by a Puerto Rican or an Italian with a tan than have them ruin the basketballness of me,” he explained.
Sherman Alexie - A Native Son With No Borders - NYTimes.com
[not sure how i feel about him, but that last line made me laugh — partly in disbelief. -y]
1 month ago