For the second time, Adam Beach seems poised to break out in Hollywood.

His turn as a troubled U.S. Marine in director Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, which opened Oct. 20, is already generating Oscar buzz, and could see Beach trading his Ottawa digs for the Hollywood Hills. Flags grossed US$10.2 million in its opening weekend at the North American box office.

Oscar-winning Canuck screenwriter Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) and William Broyles Jr. (Jarhead) adapted the script from the book by James Bradley.

The film recounts the famously photographed raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War Two – the aftermath of which proved disappointing for three surviving flag-raisers.

Back in 2002, when Beach starred as a code talker opposite Nicolas Cage in John Woo’s Windtalkers, many predicted the actor, now 33, would become a permanent fixture south of the border – not unlike his Flags costar and fellow Canuck Barry Pepper.

It didn’t quite pan out that way.

Beach has, since Windtalkers and before Flags, been relegated to mostly guest appearances on U.S. TV series such as JAG, and starring roles in small-budget Canadian affairs, such as the MOW Cowboys and Indians: The J.J Harper Story, for APTN and CBC.

‘[Flags] is the film that’s going to change my life,’ Beach says on the phone from the Calgary set of the HBO western mini Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, in which he stars as Sioux writer-activist Charles Easton, opposite Aidan Quinn and fellow Winnipegger Anna Paquin.

If Flags turns out to be a contender come Oscar season, it could have a favorable effect on Beach’s other projects, such as his Canuck sitcom Moose TV, about a group of natives who attempt to run a TV station in their small community. Moose is slated to air on Showcase early next year.

‘If Adam is nominated for or wins an Oscar, the fact that his profile will be raised will certainly help us promote Moose TV,’ says Jennifer Hurlbut, Showcase’s VP of marketing and publicity.

Beach says he’s content for now mostly working the Canadian scene, keeping him close to his two young sons in Ottawa. He recently completed the TV movie Luna: The Way Home for CTV, and is set to produce and star in the film Paper Games – in which he plays a hit man – with actor and friend Adrian Langley (Posers) making his directing debut.

Of Flags’ two Canuck thesps, the film will likely have a greater impact on Beach’s career. Pepper is already more active in Tinseltown, with a filmography that includes supporting roles in high-profile projects such as Enemy of the State, Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile.

But Pepper’s desire to work with director Charles Martin Smith brought him back to Canada in 2002, to executive produce and star in The Snow Walker. The film, about a pilot who crashes his plane carrying an Inuit girl in the Arctic, earned nine Genie nominations, including an acting nod for Pepper.

‘I was intrigued by 4,000 years of Canadian history and the Inuit culture,’ says Pepper, who was in Toronto to promote Flags. ‘It was a fascinating project to work on.’

The Campbell River, BC native, who divides his time between Los Angeles and Vancouver, says when he read the script for Flags, he felt compelled to do the film for its grim view of war, and because it handed him the opportunity to work with Eastwood.

‘It was a story that I just couldn’t imagine not being a part of,’ says the 36-year-old Pepper, who stars as unit leader Mike Strank, killed during battle by friendly fire.

Beach portrays Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who couldn’t come to terms with his status as a national hero, and slipped into a life of alcoholism before he died of exposure in 1955.

‘I knew of Ira and what he represented, but I didn’t know the full extent of how much emotional baggage he had from being in that war,’ says Beach, whose work, like that of other aboriginal Canadian actors Graham Greene and Gordon Tootoosis, is deeply rooted in his native heritage. Beach is a member of the Salteaux band from Manitoba.

‘I’ve never seen myself as a stereotype or as limited. I have a lot to offer for who I am as an individual. But also, with my culture, I have a lot to share,’ Beach says.

Flags is produced by DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Amblin Entertainment and Eastwood’s Malpaso Productions. The film also stars Ryan Phillippe (Crash) as Navy Corpsman John ‘Doc’ Bradley (father of the book’s author) and Jesse Bradford (The West Wing) as Marine Rene Gagnon.

Meanwhile, Eastwood’s follow-up to Flags, Letters from Iwo Jima, will be released February 2007.

Adam Beach: selected filmography
Flags of our Fathers – 2006
Sawtooth – 2004
Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story – 2003
Windtalkers – 2002
Joe Dirt – 2001
Mystery Alaska – 1999
Smoke Signals – 1998
Cadillac Girls – 1993
North of 60 – 1992

Barry Pepper: selected filmography
Flags of our Fathers – 2006
3: The Dale Earnhardt Story – 2004
The Snow Walker – 2003
We Were Soldiers – 2002
Battlefield Earth – 2000
The Green Mile – 1999
Enemy of the State – 1998
Saving Private Ryan – 1998
Dead Silence – 1997

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