HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – “Think of an American Indian ‘Rocky,’ and you have an idea of what my movie is about,” said film and television star Rick Schroder on the phone from his home in Arizona excitedly talking about the film he is about to start shooting in the famed Monument Valley area of his adopted state.
“Black Cloud” tells the story of an American Indian boxer whose extraordinary athletic ability and indomitable spirit land him a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team. It also tells of a love affair that opens the young fighter’s heart while he takes on the world’s best with his fists. It’s the first time that Schroder has stepped behind the camera, directing and producing his own script, but not acting in this romantic coming-of-age story that he hopes is headed for the Sundance Film Festival.
Although Schroder is probably not the first actor that one might imagine making his filmmaking debut with a project with an American Indian-themed story, his take on the situation seems perfectly logical. “I have several very good friends who are Native American,” he explains, “and since moving to this part of the country several years ago I’ve learned so much about the Native culture. The principles of the culture are such an interesting backdrop for this coming-of-age love story that it seemed ideal to set the story here. The richness and diversity of the American Indian culture that I’ve been exposed to have so infrequently been portrayed in the mass media that it seemed like a perfect opportunity to acquaint the rest of the country with the people and the traditions that I’ve come to know and admire so much.”
A star since the age of nine when he delivered a powerhouse Golden Globe-nominated performance as Jon Voigt’s son in the remake of “The Champ,” Schroder has achieved that most illusory of acting achievements: a successful and esteemed career, making a graceful and impressive transition from child and adolescent actor to adult roles in film and television. He had the perseverance to withstand the naysayers who scoffed when Emmy winning producer Stephen Bochco handpicked him to join the hit television series “NYPD Blue” when Jimmy Smits left the series. Bochco’s sense about actors, as always, was right on the money and Schroder’s portrayal of the upright but troubled Detective Danny Sorenson galvanized audiences and garnered overwhelming critical praise.
Since he and his wife, Andrea, decided a few years ago to raise their four children outside of Hollywood’s glare by moving the family to the Southwest, Schroder has been working on this screenplay and learning that the life of an independent filmmaker is all about one thing: raising the money to get your vision off the ground. On May 26, Schroder will realize that dream with the start of production on “Black Cloud” in the famed Monument Valley area of Arizona, the site of the classic John Wayne/John Ford collaborations which defined the American West for the world with films such as “Rio Bravo,” “The Searchers” and “Fort Apache,” to name just a few. Admitting that Hollywood’s inaccurate portrayal of American Indians has sadly contributed to generations of prejudice and misunderstanding, Schroder is convinced that setting his film in this sacred area sends the right message to movie audiences.
“The beauty of this land mirrors the beauty of the Native American culture,” he said. “Audiences need to see the connection that exists between where the continent’s indigenous people lived and the values they came to embody.”
After a 20 year career that has included numerous television movies and standout performances in such seminal projects as the CBS Emmy blockbuster miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” Schroder knows all the highs and lows of acting. But as a nascent independent filmmaker he now knows the particular hardships of trying to get a project launched, namely “financing.” He decided to take his movie idea to tribes all across the country. With great appreciation, he reports that a consortium of tribes is on board for most of the financing (he can’t identify them until after they see the final cut of the film). “I think that’s fair,” he said, “they’re taking a chance on a rookie filmmaker and I want them to see what they helped to create before we put their names on it.”
Schroder, through his production company, Old Post Productions, is in final negotiations with an impressive cast of veteran performers and exciting young actors for “Black Cloud.” “My agents at the William Morris Agency are happy to hear that I’ll still be acting,” he said, “but I have to admit that having a hyphenated job description, writer-director-producer, kind of appeals to me right now. It means I get to tell stories that matter to me and be part of the creative process from beginning to end, and that’s very satisfying.”