‘True Detective’ star Isabella Star LaBlanc on Indigenous representation and acting in the Twin Cities

[BILLIE EILISH, "BURY A FRIEND"] CATHY WURZER: Recognize that music?

(SINGING) What do you want from me? Why don't you run--

You may if you've been watching the hit show True Detective, which recently made its return on screen. True Detective-- Night Country is currently airing on HBO, and starring in the show is a Minnesotan. Isabella Star LaBlanc plays Leah, the stepdaughter of Chief Liz Danvers, played by Jodie Foster. Isabella plays a Native character, and Isabella is a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota tribal nation, born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Oh, I'm so happy, Isabella, that you've had some time here to talk with us. Welcome. It's a real pleasure having you here.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Hello, thanks so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: And thanks for being here. Say, tell us about the character that you're playing.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Yeah, so like you said, my character, Leah, she's the stepdaughter of the chief of police. And she's also a young Native woman who's coming of age and discovering her own world and how she wants to show up and activism, really.

CATHY WURZER: The show takes place in a remote Alaska town home to a lot of Native folks. How did that show-- how is the show making sure that Native representation is accurate and appropriate?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Yeah, I was so grateful for all the lengths that the team went to make sure that not only were we telling a Native story in a really profound way, but we were telling it with Native people. And so there was always a lot of Indigenous actors on set. We had an amazing team of Native producers and an advisory council of Native folks from Alaska who really made sure that all those little details were right and correct and respectful.

CATHY WURZER: How did you find your way to this show?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: I've been auditioning for a while. I've done another TV series and another movie. But this audition came around like, I guess, jeez, over a year ago. And I auditioned from my home in Minneapolis and met with our director on Zoom. And then before I knew it, I was on a plane to Iceland.

CATHY WURZER: Oh my gosh. And your heart must have been pumping. I understand the show was shot in Iceland, so what about that experience?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Oh, it was amazing. Iceland is so cool. And I didn't realize until I was flying out there that it's not actually that difficult to get there from here. It's like a five-hour direct flight. But it's so cool. It was awesome. I felt like all my training as a Minnesotan and all my Minnesotan winters really prepared me for it.

CATHY WURZER: When it was actually kind of winter in Minnesota. Not this winter, but back in the day.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Exactly, in years past.

CATHY WURZER: Oh my gosh. By the way, did you have to shoot overnight, just given where Iceland is and the daylight?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Yeah, definitely. We were shooting in the winter, so there wasn't a lot of daylight to begin with. But in order to maximize our daylight or our darkness, since the show is set during the long night, we were often shooting overnight. And then you'd come home, and you'd sleep during the three hours of sunlight. And then you'd be up, and it's dark again. So it was very, very dark and very cold.

CATHY WURZER: What an experience. Say, we have got to play a clip from the first episode. This is your first scene with Jodie Foster.

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

- You know, you don't have to freak out about it.

- I'm not talking about it. I thought you were smarter than that, Leah. You know where those videos end up? They end up on porn sites for the rest of your life, every single time somebody looks you up.

- OK, well, we didn't post it. Her mom took her phone, and she freaked out. It was just for us, so don't--

- Don't be an idiot. People break up, OK? Phones get hacked.

- Oh, right. Thanks, Chief Danvers. All criminal angles noted.

[END PLAYBACK]

CATHY WURZER: Ouch. A little tense there with your stepmom.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: [LAUGHS] Exactly, a little mom-daughter drama.

CATHY WURZER: Oh gosh. Of course, I've never interviewed Jodie Foster. I would love to do that someday. What's it like to work with somebody like Jodie?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Oh, she's the best. She was so lovely. Her reputation precedes her, and she feels so larger than life. And then you get in the room with her, and she's just a lovely, easygoing person to be around. We had so much fun on set. I felt like I learned so much from her. I'm very grateful that she was my stepmom on this journey.

CATHY WURZER: Say, out of curiosity, what did you learn from Jodie that you can share with us? Because I'm betting whoever you work with, you do probably learn something from every actor that you deal with.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Absolutely. It's really my favorite part about being an actor is that everyone does it in their own unique way. And I think that's really what I took away from Jodie is, in her career, she's really cultivated a very personal technique. And she really has her own method, and she is really unapologetic that she does it in the way that works for her.

And so I felt like I learned that like, hey, I get to do this exactly how it works for me. And I don't have to pretend that what works for other actors works for me. And so, yeah, I felt like I came away from it just excited to learn more about my own process, really.

CATHY WURZER: Say, what's it like growing up not seeing Indigenous representation and then being part of the Indigenous representation that we're seeing now?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: It's pretty surreal. And it feels like it's kind of happened overnight, which is not really true. It's been a lot of years of a lot of artists working really hard and fighting to be seen. But I look back on even just five years ago, when I was doing my first round of auditions, and just the roles were entirely different.

And the stories that I was getting to see were totally different. And it feels exciting. And it feels like just the tip of the iceberg. I'm so excited to see what comes next because it really does make a difference to see our stories told and see our stories being told on such a big platform like HBO, like True Detective. It feels like a whole new world, really.

CATHY WURZER: I wonder-- and you're right, I mean, it's been many years in the making. But I wonder, as network TV has fractured, and you do have the HBOs and the other larger streaming platforms and the more independent production houses out there-- I mean, I'm thinking about Reservation Dogs. And a show like that, you wouldn't see that on network TV. So I wonder, as broadcast has become more fractured over the years, whether that's kind of opened the door.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: Absolutely. It does feel like the era we're in, especially in TV, is an era of surprising ourselves and finding things that are new and surprising and interesting to us. Whereas, again, with network TV, it was more of this model of like, what can appeal to everyone? What do we know will appeal to everyone? And it feels like now, as viewers and as artists, we're getting the chance to tell stories that are a little bit more diverse and a little bit more, yeah, surprising.

CATHY WURZER: I wonder if the sky's the limit now because I'm thinking about Lily Gladstone being the first Native actor to be nominated for an Oscar, right? I mean, that has got to be just such an amazing moment in Hollywood to see something like that and know that, hey, you know what? I'm Isabella Star LaBlanc, and I can do that now too.

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: [LAUGHS] Yeah, again, it's so surreal. And when I was in LA for the premiere of True Detective, she had just won the Golden Globe. And I just kept saying-- I was like, I feel like I'm waking up in a different Hollywood today.

And I just remember being a kid and being like, I don't know, is that allowed to happen for Native actors? Is that allowed to happen for Native actors who are based in Minneapolis or based not in Hollywood? And, yeah, she's such a great example of, yes, it is possible. And there's so many of us who are kind of indebted to her for the trailblazing she's done.

CATHY WURZER: I know you worked hard on True Detective, obviously. What's next for you? What are you working on? What are the projects that you have cooking right now?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: It's like there's a lot up in the air. It feels like a lot in my life is changing fast. One of the things that I've been doing for a couple of years now that I do really love is in between acting gigs, I'm an audiobook narrator. So I just recorded a book for Stephen Graham Jones, and I have another audiobook coming out. So lots of reading for me in the future.

CATHY WURZER: Very nice. Isabella, we are very proud of you. You do a great job. Thank you so much, and best of luck. Keep us on your radar when you get to be-- when you get that Oscar nomination, we want to be the first to talk with you, OK?

ISABELLA STAR LABLANC: [LAUGHS] Oh my goodness, thank you so much.

CATHY WURZER: Talk later. Isabella Star LaBlanc stars as Leah in True Detective on HBO. You can watch new episodes on HBO Sunday nights.