Lily Gladstone knew she wanted to be somewhere special when the Oscar news came. And that somewhere was not home, watching on TV, but in Oklahoma with the Osage community, where the real-life version of her character lived and where Martin Scorsese鈥檚 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon鈥 is centered.
鈥淚 decided that I wanted to be on the Osage reservation, should this news come in today,鈥 Gladstone said shortly after receiving her historic nomination for best actress, the first Native American so honored. 鈥淚 wanted to be as close to Mollie Kyle and her family as I could be. So I鈥檓 here in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Once things wrap up, I think I鈥檓 gonna load up and drive out to Fairfax and Gray Horse and pay my respects there.鈥
Meanwhile Gladstone鈥檚 parents were FaceTiming her as the nominations were announced. She asked them not to show her the TV screen, but instead to focus on their own faces.
鈥'Flip the camera around,'鈥 she says she told her mother. 鈥'I want to see your and dad鈥檚 reactions!' And sure enough, I could kind of hear them starting to say my name, but then it just got drowned out by my parents cheering, and my dog started barking.鈥
Gladstone鈥檚 nomination was hardly a surprise. The accolades for the 37-year-old actor鈥檚 performance have been flowing since the film came out in October, and she earlier this month. She鈥檚 had both time and opportunity to articulate what feels historic about this moment, and remains just as passionate.
鈥淚t鈥檚 what I鈥檝e been saying this whole time and I still absolutely feel it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t happens to be that I鈥檓 carrying this honor right now 鈥 (but) it鈥檚 all so long overdue. It鈥檚 a real moment of restoration, placing Indigenous talent in these roles, spotlighting their humanity. 鈥 I think it is shattering a lot of stereotypes people have about Indigenous women, particularly Native American women.鈥
"We鈥檙e taking our place where we belong,鈥 she said of Indigenous actors and storytellers. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 taken a long time to get here. But it鈥檚 so necessary.鈥
Gladstone, who grew up between Seattle and the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, and learned for the film, added that the recognition comes 鈥渋n a time where across the country, stories like this are getting buried, are being considered too woke." So she is gratified, she said, "to be in a film that cements this history in the public eye, that makes it accessible for people to see, to get inside of in a way that only film can bring you inside of, as brutal as it can be, as heartbreaking and challenging as it can be.鈥
adapted from David Grann鈥檚 real-life whodunit of the same name, focuses more than the book did on the relationship between Mollie and her husband, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), who loves her but somehow also participates in a sinister plot with his uncle (Robert De Niro ) to eliminate her family and acquire their oil-rich land.
But Gladstone pointed out that the film was not only about what she called the 鈥渉orrible, complicated, skewed love鈥 between Mollie and Ernest. It is also, she said, about 鈥渢he love that Mollie and her community had for each other. The one that carries everybody forward.鈥
鈥淲e carry forward by passing our stories forward, by passing our sense of self and our knowledge forward, by adapting and growing,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o having the story be passed forward on such a massive scale, I hope it just ignites a curiosity that maybe wasn鈥檛 there before for most people.鈥
Whatever happens at the Oscars, Gladstone鈥檚 upward trajectory has been swift. So what is next for her?
鈥淚鈥檝e got some great things that I can announce soon,鈥 she said. 鈥淪ome other things that I鈥檝e been ruminating on for years with collaborators, with incredible filmmakers. And now there鈥檚 definitely more green lights for those stories to progress. I鈥檓 just so incredibly blessed being a working actor, period. So to even make a living doing what I love feels like an immense win.鈥
Gladstone added she was "really excited for anything that鈥檚 to come from it. As an actor and then, how I can help get other stories told that deserve to be out there. A lot of marginalized stories, and particularly in Indian country.鈥
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