Most of the movies cast was from the town in which it was filmed.
W.P. Kinsella actually didn't care for this movie and the TV show, "The Rez" that followed. Even though they were based on his writing. He considered both the movie and television show to be of poor quality.
Though the movie is set in Northern Ontario, the original stories in the book take place in Central Alberta, in and around the town of Hobbema (now known as Maskwacis), which is home to four native bands: Samson, Montana, Louis Bull and Ermineskin. Ermineskin also happened to be the last name of the narrator in the books, Silas.
Project was in turnaround from Columbia Pictures.
Actor Hugh Dillon's first picture