Based on Hopkins' account of his mixed-race ancestry, the movie production employed Lakota historians, medicine men, and tribal leaders as consultants to advise during every scene that represented their culture. Many of the Ghost Dancers who reenact the sacred ceremony of 1890 in "Hidalgo" had participated in the film "Thunderheart" (1992) and the mini-series "Dreamkeeper", both written by Fusco. The screenwriter was adopted as an honorary relative of the Oglala Nation in a "Hunkyapi" ceremony (Making of Relatives) on September 3, 1989 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.