Mark Dacascos (Mani) stars in BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF
© Universal Studios

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Spirit Warrior in "THE WOLF" Part One

In BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (LE PACTE DE LOUPS), veteran genre actor Mark Dacascos plays Mani a contemplative, physically adroit Native American far from his home. He is the spiritual brother of scientist Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), the man investigating the mysterious killings of villagers by a rampaging beast in 18th-century France.

While the role posed a number of challenges for Dacascos (period pieces are never easy), he admits that perhaps the most difficult was having to act unimpressed by the beautiful real life castles and chateaus his character encountered.

The great thing is, all of those locations were real," Dacascos says. "[There were] no [constructed] sets. Everything you see is really there. We would shoot in places like that, and then we'd go back to our hotels which were [also] like 300 or 400 years. It was amazing. As a matter of fact, my apartment in Paris was 360 years old and was just beautiful. But to Mani's character, [a castle is] kind of like tearing down what is natural what is God-given and of the Earth to build something that we think is better. So it was very strange [to the character] that we would just take away what nature made to put up something like that, these absurd monuments."

Mark Dacascos (Mani) stars in BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF

© Universal Studios

Interestingly enough, this attitude also translated unto Mani's dealings with other characters.

"As far as looking at people, I think for Mani it's about using your senses. I think bottom line is we have two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, but only one mouth. So see and hear more than you say. Feel more, say less."

In the film, many of the French characters, as well as the Beast of Gevaudan, are based on historical predecessors. However, Mani is the creation of WOLF director/co-writer Christophe Gans.

"A lot of the character was dictated by the script that Christophe had written with Stephane Cabel," Dacascos explains. "Being that he's a Mohawk Indian, an 18th-century former warrior now in France, a lot of my characteristics were just dictated by the geography and time. Christophe wanted my character to kind of be the E.T. of the movie. He's very strange, but when he does say something, it's profound it makes sense. In my opinion, Mani is so strange [in the eyes of the other characters] because he is so simple and so honest."

Ultimately, however, Mani does stem from somewhat historical roots. After all, Dacascos immersed himself in research regarding Mohawk Indians.

Director Christophe Gans helms BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF

© Universal Studios

"I was a little worried that I'm not from Mohawk ancestry. I'm from Hawaii, but the interesting thing is there are so many similarities between Hawaiian culture and Native American. But to play it as truthfully as I could, not only did I read books and do my own studying, but I also worked with an actual Mohawk cultural teacher. She's Mohawk, she's from Canada, she's actually from the Wolf Tribe and she taught me as much as she could in the limited amount of time that we had about the Mohawk culture. She would sing to me, so I had an idea of the sounds and the rhythms of their song. She danced, so I could learn some of that. She taught me about some of the basic belief systems and rituals, so I tried to soak in as much as I could from an actual Mohawk person."

In the end, this intense studying paid off in a number of ways.

"The physical manifestation would be the ease that Mani would feel with the animals and the elements. I'm from Hawaii, so for me, it was freezing in France. You see I wear very little toward the end. If I were to be myself, I would be [shivering], but I had to get used to being in the elements. Being from Canada, Mani [is] used to cold weather, so what I would do was while I was in France prepping for the movie, before and after work when I did my workouts, if it was snowing or raining outside I would put on my tennis shoes, shorts and a tank top and make myself run in the cold weather make myself get used to it as if it was totally natural. Make myself get used to being on a horse. The actual horse teacher, Mario Luraschi, had me galloping around with no hands. I'm a surfer, I'm not a horseman, but I went and I learned how to gallop comfortably without even using my hands, being snug on the horse, just using my thighs and everything. So the physical manifestations of [research into] being a Mohawk is that you're used to the elements and you feel natural with them. That's where you feel at home."

Christophe Gans' BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF

© 2001 Universal Studios

Dacascos also felt at home being reunited with director Gans, as the pair had worked together in 1993 on CRYING FREEMAN. Although they had not kept in touch between films, their ease of communication resumed where it left off.

"It came so naturally," Dacascos notes. "Christophe was very specific on CRYING FREEMAN about what he wanted in terms of dialogue and physicality everything. Whereas on [WOLF], he was very thorough prior to shooting, relating to us how he saw the relationships, the connections, our past experiences. Once we got on the set, however, Christophe pretty much let us run with it. It's like he did most of his directing in the casting and rehearsals. After that, we had the luxury of really doing what we felt in our gut, and the great thing about that is that you have the luxury to experiment and go places without anybody saying, 'Oh, do this, do that.' On the other hand, it's scary because you don't have somebody taking you by the hand and saying, 'Okay, this is what we're going to do.' He trusted us, so we had to trust ourselves, too."

Check back for part two of our Mark Dacascos coverage, where the actor talks more BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, his memories of THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN and what he's got coming up next.