Actress Irene Bedard provided the voice and served as the body model for Disney’s Pocahontas. Bedard, the daughter of an Inupiat Eskimo and a French Canadian/Cree, has long been active in the American Indian community and has fond memories of her time spent providing the voice of Pocahontas.
“I did my very first recording session while I was on the set of a movie I did that Jane Fonda produced called ‘Lakota Woman.’ They were just basically scratch tracks. We took the script and we just read through it. That was in ’93 and I did recording sessions once every six to eight weeks as we changed storylines, shifted things, worked things out, until I had my very last recording session probably three or four months before it was released. We changed the word 'path' to 'way' in one scene because Pocahontas had said path just one too many times. It really was a process of trying things out, enjoying it, having fun and then going, ‘Well, let’s try this storyline,’ or ‘Let’s make this storyline stronger.’ It was really an interesting process,” said Bedard.
Input Into the Character of Pocahontas: “They were very open, of course, to having somebody there who was not only there as an actor but really had a cultural perspective. They were always asking me [questions]. They had advisors they brought in from Virginia to sort of give the animators an idea of the clothing that was worn and the foods that were eaten and the housing, how that was built. They really did as much as they could.”
Memories of the “Pocahontas” Premiere: “We had the premiere – the Central Park Premiere – [and] it was the world’s largest premiere ever in the history of filmmaking at the time. Anyway, I got to meet all of the other characters. Mel Gibson at the time was shooting ‘Braveheart’ and I didn’t get a chance to meet him. I came out and had this just beautiful Armani sparkling top and just came out into the middle of the 110,000 people and it was like I had little hands coming from every direction. I came out in sparkles and then I had sparkles of children all around me.”
Being Recognized as Pocahontas: “It’s fun. I mean, I enjoy it. My son is 2 years old now and what’s even more fun for me is when we pass by [the DVD] and he says, ‘Mommy!’ I get recognized here and there as the voice of Pocahontas. It happened a lot more at the time when it had come out. I couldn’t go grocery shopping without some little kid in the front of the cart going, ‘Mommy – Pocahontas!’”
A Different Perspective of Pocahontas: “Terrence Malick has done a film called ‘The New World’ and I’m playing Pocahontas’ mom in that one. I think that the elements of [the Disney] story are, of course, told for a child. For one, as far as Disney animated characters - female characters – I think this is one of the strongest. She wasn’t waiting for the prince to come. She actually saves the prince in a way. And so for little girls and for the kids to be able to see this story and be able to relate to it at this young age I think is really great, and was such a positive thing as far as Indian country goes.
When I was growing up you were called Pocahontas and it was sort of a derogatory name. Now you have little girls who look up to that, both Indian and non-Indian alike who want to be strong like that and mischievous. But I think ‘New World’ has, of course, all the other layers of bringing Terrence Malick’s reality to it so it’s a different telling and I’m excited that it’s coming out.”
"The New World’s" Version of Pocahontas’ Story: “I wasn’t there for all of it of course. Pocahontas, she was 12 when she met John Smith [played by Colin Farrell] and so the girl that they hired to play Pocahontas [Q’Orianka Kilcher], I think she was 14 at the time when they were shooting. So I think that his telling is going to have a lot more of the darker events of her life and really bring out a lot of the things that were touched upon in 'Pocahontas' but in a much more [realistic] way. It will be more realistic.”
Page 2: The Sets of "The New World" and the Portrayal of Native Americans in Films and on TV
