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Tribal warfare is in the air in Vincent Grashaw\u2019s crime drama Keep Quiet<\/em>. Lou Diamond Phillips<\/a> stars as Teddy, a weathered tribal cop who, with his new trainee, Sandra (Dana Namerode), must find ruthless fugitive Richie, played by Elisha Pratt (Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, True Detective<\/em>). After all, Richie\u2019s return to their rural Indigenous reservation \u201chas exposed its darkest secrets and could ignite a violent gang war.\u201d<\/p>\n That is the menacing set-up for Keep Quiet<\/em>, which world premieres in an out-of-competition spot at the 78th edition<\/a> of the Locarno Film Festival<\/a> on Friday, a year after the director debuted boxing drama Bang Bang<\/a><\/em> at the Swiss fest.<\/p>\n More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Nick Stahl, Irene Bedard, Lane Factor and Kimberly Guerrero round out the ensemble cast of the film, which is based on a screenplay by Zach Montague. Visit Films is handling international sales on the project.<\/p>\n Filmed on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe reservations and the surrounding small towns in Before the movie\u2019s Locarno premiere, THR<\/em> talked to Phillips, Pratt and Grashaw about Keep Quiet<\/em>, making an entertaining movie that also dives into serious issues and has depth, and Indigenous representation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main goal was to tell this human story but also make a commercial movie, something that is entertaining, suspenseful and taps into a mass audience,\u201d says Grashaw. \u201cIt deals with important themes, but we also focused on it being entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n The film may play out in an Indigenous setting, but the themes it explores, including family, community bonds, loss and grief, are global. \u201cThis story is incredibly universal,\u201d says Phillips. \u201cYes, it deals with Native American gangs. But it could just as well be the Latino gang experience, which I dealt with in Stand and Deliver<\/em> and in Filly Brown<\/em>, or the experience of the Asian-American or the African-American community.\u201d<\/p>\n Grashaw was excited to get Phillips on board as \u201cthe anchor\u201d of the movie, the director says. \u201cThe script just jumped off the page,\u201d recalls Phillips. \u201cThat role was just something that I saw myself in from page one, and I knew exactly who this guy was. And then I watched Bang Bang<\/em>, which Vincent had done with Tim Blake Nelson, and I went, \u2018This is an incredibly accomplished director.\u2019 This is a guy with vision. This is a guy who goes in with the gloves off!\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Pratt felt great about his audition experience. \u201cVince would give me notes, and I would take the notes and kind of do what he was asking me to do,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was just one of those great experiences where I felt like I could let loose in the room and just leave it all in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Grashaw loved Pratt\u2019s audition. \u201cI was blown away,\u201d he shares. \u201cDuring his read, I was scared of him. I was like, \u2018Oh my God, he\u2019s the guy!\u2019 There was no question.\u201d<\/p>\n The cast chemistry also felt right. Phillips compares the dynamic between Namerode and himself with that of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day<\/em> or Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in Colors<\/em>. \u201cIt has that grittiness and that authenticity,\u201d he tells THR<\/em>.<\/p>\n And their two tribal police detectives are ethnic mixes rather than Indigenous people. \u201cWith Vincent giving us these roles, we\u2019re representative of who we are,\u201d says Phillips. \u201cI\u2019m a massive mix. It\u2019s a recognition of the fact that America is such a melting pot. You don\u2019t have to be one thing or another to represent these particular characters.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips plays a character who married into the reservation. \u201cInterestingly, that gives him a perspective of almost an eternal outsider, which makes him more nuanced and more interesting,\u201d explains the actor. \u201cIt was very, very important for this film to capture the heart of it and to tell the story as ambassadors for communities. For a very long time, I\u2019ve represented the Latino community in many, many different communities under that umbrella, and First Nations. It\u2019s always been important to me that we bring pride to the community in doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n Representing life in Indigenous communities accurately was a particularly important focus for the creative team, helped by actor and technical advisor Marcus Red Thunder. Phillips knew him from his years as a technical advisor on Longmire<\/em> and knew he could help the production approach life in a tribal community \u201cwith a great deal of honesty, authenticity and respect.\u201d The advisor also served as a liaison to the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations and the Cherokee nations.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that the film really represents what you see on reservations or small native communities,\u201d Pratt tells THR<\/em>. \u201cI grew up in a Native American community, and I know what it is like to lose people while those people are still young, to deal with grief and trauma. I\u2019ve lived this life. You see cops that might be tribal police, but they\u2019re not tribal \u2014\u00a0just like in the film. You see people, I guess you could call them outsiders, who marry into the community, and they become part of the community, just like Teddy in the film. So, it all felt very accurate and true, because I\u2019ve seen and experienced this.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on Marcus Red Thunder\u2019s advice, the movie does not mention any specific area or tribe, helping to make the story more universal. For example, cross-jurisdictional problems between sheriff departments and tribal police depicted in the movie go well beyond one territory.<\/p>\n Indigenous representation also extended to the crew, including production designer Rebekah Bell and others. \u201cWe had as much as we could in shooting in Oklahoma,\u201d Grashaw told THR<\/em>.<\/p>\n Marcus Red Thunder can even be seen in a scene of the film. \u201cWhen we went and met the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, he introduced us, and they did a blessing for us,\u201d Grashaw recalls. \u201cThese are some of the nicest people you\u2019ll ever meet, in terms of their upbeat spirit. They met up with Lou, and they were giving him gifts. It was just a really beautiful moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The film team also got to meet a herd of around 600 bison thanks to the Indigenous hosts. \u201cWhen they showed us that, I remember turning to the producer and saying, \u2018We got to have a sequence in the film with this,\u2019 and they let us write it in and shoot it,\u201d the director says. \u201cAnd that was Lou\u2019s first day on set!\u201d<\/p>\n Representing Indigenous life on screen was, of course, also driven by Indigenous talent in the movie. Pratt, for example, could bring his own life experiences to the set. \u201cGrowing up in native communities and reservations, you\u2019re just able to see the things that people go through. And you know that despite the hardships, people want to do good,\u201d Pratt tells THR<\/em>. \u201cYeah, there are people who do bad things, but in their mind, they think they\u2019re doing the right thing. Drawing upon this experience helped me bring Richie to life.\u201d<\/p>\n You may find yourself rooting for Phillips\u2019 Teddy, but he is also far from perfect. \u201cOne of the really attractive things about Teddy was that he is a flawed human being and has his own demons,\u201d Phillips tells THR<\/em>. \u201cHe\u2019s got his own darkness. Yet, he is trying to do the right thing, not only for his family, but for the community that he has taken close to his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Concludes the star: \u201cLet\u2019s be honest. Sometimes he\u2019s not likable. Sometimes he\u2019s an asshole. He\u2019s definitely kind of like a drill sergeant who is a proponent of tough love. But I think the most important thing for me was that his character rang true.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips and Pratt both lauded the film\u2019s script and Grashaw\u2019s work as a director. \u201cThat script was so solid,\u201d Phillips emphasized. \u201cNot a whole lot needed to be embellished. Of course, things would come up in the moment, and we\u2019d roll with them. But as the director, Vincent was just wonderful. Some directors will talk you to death. Or they\u2019ll overanalyze something. But it\u2019s not about talking about it, it\u2019s about doing it. Vincent was meticulous at the script stage. But if you cast it right, people will come in and just live it in front of the camera. And Vincent is wise enough to just capture that and tweak it as we go along.\u201d<\/p>\n Does the Keep Quiet<\/em> creative team have any regrets? \u201cI wish I could have worked more with Lou,\u201d Pratt tells THR<\/em>. \u201cI think I got one day with Lou, and I was like, \u2018man, if I only had some more time with him,\u2019 because I love watching him. I was actually eyeballing him the whole time, just watching what he\u2019s doing, just studying him. Man, this guy\u2019s got such charisma that just really motivates me!\u201d<\/p>\n After Locarno, Keep Quiet<\/em> will continue its festival circuit run at Oldenburg. \u201cI\u2019m so excited about all that, and I\u2019m looking forward to the time when a stateside audience can see it as well,\u201d Phillips tells THR<\/em>. \u201cYou put your heart and soul into something like this, and there\u2019s not a lot of money, and there\u2019s not a lot of time. But as hard as it is, and as difficult as it is, you commit to a project like this and make something that you\u2019re proud of. It\u2019s a film that deserves to be seen by a very, very wide audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tribal warfare is in the air in Vincent Grashaw\u2019s crime drama Keep Quiet. Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Teddy, a weathered tribal cop who, with his new trainee, Sandra (Dana Namerode), must find ruthless fugitive Richie, played by Elisha Pratt (Killers of the Flower Moon, True Detective). 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Oklahoma, Keep Quiet<\/em> was produced by Ran Namerode and Angelia Adzic of Randomix Productions, Cole Payne of Traverse Media, and Grashaw. Phillips, Marcus Red Thunder, and Richard Janes served as executive producers.<\/p>\n