"Oh, that would have missed the entire point," said Paquin, the 24-year-old, Canadian-born New Zealander and former Academy Award winner who stars with Beach in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. The movie, which is set in the late 1800s and focuses on the tragic deterioration of Native culture in North America, debuts tonight across Canada on the Movie Network and Movie Central. "I've had some people say, 'So, what was up with there being no, like, serious love scenes between you and Adam?
' " Paquin said. "First of all, put yourself in the Victorian mindset, where seeing a woman's ankle was scandalous. And second, we're telling a more important story.
"You can tell a love story any time. To boil it down to a love story would have been such a waste." Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which was filmed in Calgary and directed by Canadian Yves Simoneau, is a new adaptation of a book that was published in 1971 and was based on actual events.
Besides Paquin and Beach, the movie also stars Aidan Quinn, Colm Feore and August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull. Paquin plays Elaine Goodale, a schoolteacher trying to improve conditions on a reservation. She marries Ohiyesa (Beach), a doctor of half-Sioux and half-European descent who has been forced to take an English name -- Charles Eastman -- as proof of the virtues of Native assimilation.
The more Charles sees, though, the more he realizes the Natives have been screwed. This eats at his conscience and creates tension between himself and his "white" wife. "It was an incredible opportunity for me, as someone who's not from (the United States), to learn more about that period," Paquin said.
"It's nice to feel as if you're expanding your mind." Besides Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, she has three feature films coming out: Blue State, which she starred in and executive-produced; Margaret; and Trick 'R Treat. She also is shooting a pilot for an HBO television series called True Blood.
"It's based on the Southern Vampire novels, where vampires have been integrated into contemporary society," Paquin said. "They have, quote-unquote, come out of the coffin. "My character (Sookie Stackhouse) is so different from anything I ever have done.
By the way, I'm talking to you right now as a brand new blond. So if the show works and it goes to series, however this whole TV business works -- I'm still learning -- it would be great to develop this character over a few years." The affable Paquin was born in Winnipeg but moved with her family to New Zealand when she was only four years old.
While she admitted to being "extraordinarily partial" to maple syrup, she treasures at least one other important link to the Great White North. "I have two passports (Canada and New Zealand), but it's lovely that I'm Canadian, are you kidding me? Everything shoots in Canada," said Paquin, who resides in the United States.
"When you go through U.S. Customs with a Green Card, they look at you as if you're a criminal.
But when I go to New Zealand or Canada, it's like, 'Hey, welcome home.' And I say, 'Thanks, that's so nice ..
. I don't even live here.' "I'm lucky to come from two very friendly cultures.
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