Has made cameos in two of the films he has written. First as the Cowboy lamenting the death of the American frontier in Hell or High Water (2016), then as the angry trucker in Wind River (2017), though the scene was deleted from the final cut.

It is the great shame of my nation the manner in which it has treated the native inhabitants of North America. Sadly, my government continues that shame with an insidious mixture of apathy and exploitation. (...) There is nothing I can do to change the issues afflicting Indian country, but what we can do as artists - and must do - is scream about them with fists clenched. What we can do - is make sure these issues aren't ignored. Then the people who can effect change will be forced to. [Cannes 2017]