Storyboards of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Artistic Supervisor

Story: Ronnie Del Carmen

Story

Sharon Bridgeman

Bob Logan

Jurgen Gross

Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Denise Nagisa Koyama

Nassos Vakalis

Larry Leker

Simon Wells

Additional Story Artists

Viki Anderson

Duncan Majoribanks

Francisco Avalos

Henry Mayo

Don Hall

Don Morgan

Tom Sito

Production Notes of Thunderheart

From left to right; Graham Greene, John Fusco and Val Kilmer

Shot on location at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1991. This is the first feature film shot on that location. Pine Ridge is the second largest reservation in North America, with a population of about 18,000.

Thunderheart grossed nearly $23 million at the domestic box office. The film employed over 250 Native American extras. Former American Indian Movement chairman John Trudell plays the part of the FBI suspect, Jimmy Looks Twice. Trudell was head of AIM when Leonard Peltier was convicted.

He met director Michael Apted while working on Incident at Oglala. Trudell is also a musician and poet. The film is partially based on screenwriter-producer John Fusco’s experiences as an adopted relative of the Oglala Nation. He spent five years at Pine Ridge and met the Oglala Sioux medicine man, Chief Frank Fools Crow, who became the inspiration for the character of Grandpa Reaches.

Spirit’s 30th Birthday

Photo by Carol J. Walker

Happy Birthday

Spirit-Who-Could-Not-Be-Broken!

Meet Spirit, the real Kiger mustang stallion as a model for the inspiration of the 2002 DreamWorks animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The production of the film started in 1998 when Donner (later renamed Spirit) was 3 years old. After the film was completed, Spirit was given to Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary and conservation, in April 2002 at Lompoc, California. The screenplay of the film was scripted by John Fusco, writer of Hidalgo and conservationist of Spanish Mustangs. It was based on an idea by DreamWorks co-founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Birth Name: Donner (1995–2002)

Date of Birth: May 8, 1995 (30 years old)

Breed: Kiger Mustang

Color: Dun (with dorsal stripe)

Gender: Stallion

The real Spirit became a real inspiration to the artists.

— John Fusco, Screenwriter