Advertisem*nt
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Supported by
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
She is gaining a reputation for such roles with films like “The Ice Road” and her latest, “Prey.” She’s the rare Native American actress to star in the genre.
By Nicolas Rapold
It was the day a grand showdown fight in “Prey” was to be shot, and Amber Midthunder felt awful.
She was ill, and she had lost her voice. The sequence involved the movie’s most physically intensive action, requiring fine-tuned choreography and a rousing finish. And you generally want to be at your best when facing an intergalactic nemesis who has journeyed to Earth to hunt people for sport.
“I really wanted to do it! So I just didn’t talk to anybody all day long,” Midthunder said. “And then we were like, ‘We’ll just try it and see what happens.’”
The steely nerves paid off. On Friday, “Prey,” directed by Dan Trachtenberg, premieres on Hulu with a novel rethink of the “Predator” action series that is set in the early 18th century and doubles as a coming-of-age adventure. Midthunder plays Naru, a young Comanche woman who must prove herself to a tribe that underestimates her.
But there’s no underestimating the 25-year-old actor who is taking on the kind of starring role that isn’t always attainable in Hollywood. As a member of the Fort Peck Sioux tribe, she is the rare Native American female action lead, headlining a franchise that originally rested on the pumped shoulders of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Image
Performing death-defying leaps, flinging axes with precision and delivering well-timed one-liners, Midthunder meets most definitions of “action hero.”
Advertisem*nt
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
