![\"Odjick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/joshua-odjick.jpg\")
Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg actor Joshua Odjick stars in The Long Walk, the latest in a long line of film adaptations of work by horror master Stephen King. (Tim Leyes )’Heartwarming’ gesture, says Odjick’s mom<\/p>\nWhen it comes to supporting a fellow member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg on the big screen, Christina Commonda says she’s “loud and proud.”<\/p>\n
The western Quebec First Nation is home to rising Hollywood star Joshua Odjick, who currently stars in The Long Walk,\u00a0an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel of the same name.<\/p>\n
“I never would have thought in a million years that I’d be sitting in a movie theatre watching somebody from my community on the screen,” said Commonda, accessibility table co-ordinator\u00a0for the Maniwaki Native Friendship Centre.<\/p>\n
Set in a post-war America ruled by a totalitarian regime, King’s novel follows a group of teenage boys participating in a grueling annual walking contest in which the losers are executed.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the centre’s members\u00a0made their own long journey,\u00a0travelling two hours on a school bus to Gatineau, Que.,\u00a0to catch the film’s opening night.<\/p>\n
For some of the older members of the group, it may have been their first time in a movie theatre, Commonda said. For the younger members \u2014 many of whom are students in the centre’s educational programs \u2014\u00a0it was a chance to watch a local success story from the community.<\/p>\n
The friendship centre provides outreach services, including youth employment programs and mental health support, to Indigenous people\u00a0living in and near Maniwaki, most of whom are members of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and the Algonquins of Barriere Lake.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s important that they see the start to finish \u2014\u00a0the connection between when you go into a career [and when you’ve become]\u00a0successful,” Commonda said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg actor Joshua Odjick stars in The Long Walk, the latest in a long line of film adaptations of work by horror master Stephen King. (Tim Leyes )’Heartwarming’ gesture, says Odjick’s mom<\/p>\n
The Long Walk\u00a0is\u00a0Odjick’s first Hollywood production, but the rising star isn’t new to the industry. In 2022, he won the Canadian Screen Award’s best supporting actor for his role in the 2021 film Wildhood.<\/p>\n
For Odjick’s mother Brenda,\u00a0the show of support from the Maniwaki Native Friendship Centre was “heartwarming.”<\/p>\n
“It actually brought a tear to my eye the other day,” she said. “I thought that was an incredible thing to support Josh in his journey to become a successful actor and it just means so much to me, brings a smile to my face.<\/p>\n
I never would have thought in a million years that I’d be sitting in a movie theatre watching somebody from my community on the screen.- Christina Commonda<\/p>\n
The elder Odjick made a similar journey Friday, travelling\u00a0to Ottawa to catch a matinee screening of the flick. It was\u00a0a familiar trip, as she regularly drove her son to the city for the acting classes he\u00a0began shortly after finishing high school.<\/p>\n
The fact her son’s first major production is a Stephen King adaptation is “momentous,” she added, as the first film she ever saw was another King adaptation \u2014\u00a0the 1976 horror film Carrie.<\/p>\n
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‘Somebody just like you on the screen’<\/p>\n
Commonda said\u00a0the idea for the opening night excursion was sparked by students of the friendship centre, who had approached staff members when they heard about the film.<\/p>\n
Some knew Odjick from his previous film\u00a0Sweet Summer Pow Wow, she said.<\/p>\n