Trailer
Plot summary
Omri's ninth birthday leaves him with an old cupboard from his brother Gillon, a plastic Indian figure from his friend Patrick, and a key from his mother that once belonged to her grandmother. He locks the figure in the cupboard and, the next morning, hears a faint tapping from inside. The toy has come to life: a tiny man who draws a dagger on him in fear. Omri locks the cupboard again and tells no one. The little man is Little Bear, an English-speaking Onondaga from the eighteenth century who served with the British in the French and Indian War, and a widower. While Little Bear stays with Omri, the two become friends, and Omri learns about the Iroquois.
Cast
- Ryan Olsonas Adiel
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Technician Pat Tanner died during filming after falling from a motorized hoist used to lift scenery on the Sony Pictures sound stage in Culver City, and his death led IATSE to change motion-picture set safety rules to prevent similar accidents.
- Actor Litefoot, playing the Onondaga character Little Bear, convinced the filmmakers to replace their Mohawk cultural adviser with an Onondaga adviser, Jeanne Shenandoah, so that details like his tattoos, earlobes, leggings and moccasins were authentically Onondaga.
- Getting Litefoot's character Little Bear ready for filming was a lengthy process: applying his tattoos with permanent markers took three and a half to four and a half hours every shooting day.
- Despite positive reviews, The Indian in the Cupboard was a box-office bomb, earning only $35.7 million against a $45 million budget, though it later found a cult following on home video.
- Director Frank Oz has said that Bill Murray reportedly auditioned for a role in the film, though which part he read for was never specified.
