Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens is set to start rolling this summer, and now that all of the principal cast-- Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Paul Dano-- are on board, it's time to start filling in the smaller roles. Variety reports that Adam Beach, known for playing any number of Native American characters over the years, has signed on to play Nat Colorado in the film.

In what I guess amounts to a slight twist, Beach's character is only half-Apache this time, and works for Ford's character, who goes by the awesome name of Woodrow Dollarhyde. It's interesting that Beach's character will bring a Native American element into the film, since it seems like the aliens in this story will be standing in for the natives who are usually the enemies in Old Westerns. I'm excited about this movie for endless reasons, but it had never occurred to me to look forward to the way it might twist the Western myth. Congratulations, Favreau-- by casting an actor I'd never heard of before, you've got me looking forward to your movie in a whole new way.