Fans of FX’s acclaimed three-season series, Reservation Dog, saw first-hand how much creator Sterlin Harjo respects the art of film. Episodes often include nods to different genres and films. The series’ finale even featured a homage to Robert Altman’s “Nashville.”
So, when Harjo tried to create a follow-up for “Rez Dogs,” it’s no surprise that he decided to tackle another of his favorite film styles: Noir. “The Lowdown,” which premieres on FX on September 23rd, stars Ethan Hawk as citizen journalist Lee Rayvon, calling himself a “Truth Star” while investigating the shady bottom of Tulsa in Okra.
“I’m a noir fan,” says Harjo, who writes and directs the pilot, as well as produces “The Lowdown.” “And I always thought I could set up in Tulsa. Noir set in LA, it was kind of done. But Tulsa’s plot, the middle place in America, has yet to be explored.”
Harujo grew up in the area. He is a member of the Muscogee Creek Tribe, which founded Tulsa. This is just as personal to him as the “reserved dog.” Harujo says he loves Tulsa, but he hasn’t glossed that terrible past. The story of the devastating 1921 Tulsa racial massacre, in which hundreds of black residents were killed by white Tulsan mobs, has become more well known in recent years thanks to activists and television shows like The Watchman. It is also referred to in “The LowDown.”
“I think every place has a really dark history in America,” says Haljo. “Many people have brought more truths about Tulsa’s history, especially when it comes to the Tulsa racial massacre. Being honest with that truth and your past is healing, bringing back your community and awakening people.
“Tulsa history and Oklahoma history in general are one of the darkest darkness, just like the rest of the United States,” he adds. “Specifically it was Indian territory. My tribe and many other tribes marched to Oklahoma on a path of tears here… but it’s also a story of survival. Those tribes are now being rebuilt, and those tribes are now thriving.
As a young independent filmmaker in the 2010s, Harjo worked with local Tulsa Muckraking Journal This Land Press (and The Spinoff This Land TV).
“They gave me free rule to make a documentary about what I wanted to make in Tulsa,” says Harjo. “We were talking about stories that happened locally, and we were really like having a mirror in our city, and we were presenting it to the city, reflecting itself, for better and worse, for good and bad.”
There, Harjo met Lee Roy Chapman.
“I did a series with him called ‘Tulsa Public Secret’. So I was riding a shotgun in his white van,” says Haljo. “He was a journalist. He was a historian and a researcher. One of the things that caught his eye was that a lot of people weren’t interested or didn’t want to talk about, that they didn’t want to get involved in the truth. I’ve received a lot from him.”
After Chapman passed away in 2015, Haljo considered making a film about him, but after that he became busy with “Reserved Dogs.” After the show was over, Haljo began kicking the idea for the noir. And soon I realized that I could adapt his views on Chapman to “lowdown.”
Sterlin Harjo, Ethan Hawke, “The Lowdown” (Shane Brown/FX)
It was natural to sign Hawk to executive produce and star of the project. Harjo and Hawke have known each other for years. (The two have written together, and Hawk appeared as guest stars in the final season of “Rez Dogs.”) However, since they are close, Harjo didn’t want to speculate that he could ask his peers to join “The Lowdown.”
“You don’t want to hurt your friendship,” says Harujo. “So I sent it to him in the guise that I wanted to get the notes back from my script. I was trying to see if he was into it and what his reaction was. And luckily he read it and said, ‘Why am I not playing this guy?” From that point on, I was like, “Well, you!”
In “The Lowdown,” Hawke’s character Lee investigates the powerful Washberg family, including the Oklahoma governor candidate (played by Kyle McLachlan), whose brother (Tim Blake Nelson) killed him under mysterious circumstances. Jeanne Tripplehorn plays the widow, while “Lowdown” stars Kanyehio Horn and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as his daughter in Lee.
“So many people have agreed to attend this show,” Harjo says. “Part of that is Ethan, some of it is other actors, but I think a lot of it is “reservations.” A lot of people were inspired and they really loved the show.
“The Lowdown” touches on other themes, including Lee’s attempts to become a good father despite the taxable nature of his work. “My daughter was about 13 when I was working in this land coverage,” he recalls. “I had crazy living situations, I was trying to become an independent filmmaker, I was trying to make a living, I thought there might be a future and I was thinking this was actually hurting my daughter.”
And then there are topics that roam journalism and facts. These are two things that seem to be at risk in modern society. “We need people who fight for the truth, and we need people who fight for the righteous to lead us into the future,” he says. “I mean, our kids literally depend on it.”
Harjo hopes to continue “The Lowdown” in future seasons as Hawke’s characters investigate different crimes in each installment. Haljo is also working on more projects, including the comedy western series and the private parts of American literature that are aiming to develop into another show. He is also busy with features set up in Searchlight.
Meanwhile, Haljo also wants to revisit the “reserved dog” universe with the idea of the movie he’s kicking.
“It’s still on the horizon,” he says. “We’re a little farther away, but I want to make one of them. I don’t want to ruin it!”
In the meantime, fans of “Rez Dogs” will find plenty of Easter eggs on “The Lowdown.” It starts with the opening scene where Hawk passes “Rez Dogs” star Paulina Alexis (a character from Willie Jack).
“It’s a handoff,” says Haljo. “We were about to film the opening. I got a call from Paulina. She said, ‘Uncle, I’m in town! I’ve just come to visit.’ And she came to the set and I said, ‘You have to be on this.’ She initially walks by Ethan’s side.
“The Lowdown” premieres on FX on Tuesday, September 23rd at 9pm ET and streams on Hulu the following day.
