But writing the script for a major Hollywood film about Thorpe?

Harjo has made his name as one of the best independent filmmakers telling contemporary stories of tribal members, but “Bright Path” (the translation of Thorpe’s Indian name) will be a far larger production than his personal films about Oklahoma native culture and identity.

“It’s the kind of thing you put out of your head and think, ‘It’s never going to happen for me. It’ll be some Oscar-winning writer if they do it, not me.’ But then I was given the chance to rewrite this script,” Harjo said.

Much of the film’s focus will likely be on Thorpe’s life, from childhood to his college years at Carlisle Indian School to his Olympic triumphs, Harjo said.

“It will show how he had to navigate through being at a boarding school that he didn’t want to be at, and it has to be a story about his relationship with home, which is an important element in all of my films,” Harjo said.

“(It should be) a story of how a Native American can adapt and make a place their home. It should be a story of survival.”

His goal with the script, he said, was to “push forward the narrative of Native Americans, moving away from bad representations of Native Americans.”