When this is all over, when Lily Gladstone no longer has to argue and dissect and dress up to celebrate “The Flower Moon Killers,” the movie that first came into her life almost five years ago and has now propelled her to the history. As the first Native American to earn an Oscar nomination for lead actress, she will return home to her family in the Seattle suburbs. Gladstone moved in with her parents a few years ago to help care for her uncle with special needs and her grandmother, who died last summer after battling dementia. Her immediate plan: pay off her parents' mortgage this year. Next step for her: make a space near her for herself.
“I would love to build a treehouse in your backyard so I can live there,” Gladstone says, smiling. “I would be happy.”
This makes a lot of sense, since Gladstone really likes to talk about how much he loves the Ewoks in “Return of the Jedi,” the fierce, furry little creatures who fight the Empire in the forests of the moon of Endor. The Ewoks scenes in the movie “Star Wars” were filmed in California's Redwood National and State Parks, where Gladstone's mother, Betty, spent much of her pregnancy holding her. Gladstone finally visited the area when he was 21 and felt an immediate familiarity. And it occurred to her why she and so many other Native children loved the Ewoks: They symbolized indigenous resistance.
“You could argue that they are the ones bringing down the Empire,” Gladstone says, and then spends a couple of minutes making that precise argument. When he was 5 years old, his parents assured him that he shouldn't be angry about the Ewoks getting hurt because they were just costumed actors.
“And because I wanted to be an Ewok, that made me think, 'Hey, I better become an actor,'” Gladstone says. At this year's Golden Globes, she met Harrison Ford and told him that “Return of the Jedi” was the reason she wanted to be an actress. “Me too!” the he replied she. He then helped her schedule her bathroom break so he wouldn't miss her category.
For Gladstone, 37, the job has had its ups and downs. In 2019, the year she was first approached to play Mollie Kyle, the Osage woman who suffers as her family and friends are murdered for rights to her oil-rich Oklahoma land in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Gladstone He gathered enough income to break the poverty line. That had never happened before. Then the pandemic shut down life and Gladstone thought, not for the first time, about leaving the business.
She doesn't want to be too dramatic about this crucial point in her career. As she navigates awards season in recent months, starting with the long ovation he received At the Cannes premiere of “Killers,” certain narratives have emerged, and she is happy to break them down. (No, she doesn't consider “Yellowstone” delusional; just comments from its creator, Taylor Sheridan, saying her 2017 film “Wind River” “changed a law” affecting violence against indigenous people.)
Lily Gladstone had pinned her hopes on working in “independent film and theatre”. But…sometimes that doesn’t go very far.”
(Ramona Rosales / For The Times)
So when Gladstone talks about stopping acting, he says it would have been a hiatus. “Date with a lowercase 'q'” is how she puts it.
Gladstone had been there once before, shortly after her breakthrough role as a lonely ranch hand in Kelly Reichardt's 2016 prairie tale series, “Certain Women.” Gladstone won several critics' awards for her tender performance, including an honor from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. She thought her ads would put her on the map, and prompted a few more auditions than usual. But it wasn't long before she thought about throwing in the towel, getting a job at a nonprofit theater in Missoula, Montana, and learning to hone her grant writing skills.
“I think a lot of actors get to that point where they negotiate their passion and the reality of the business,” Gladstone says, sipping her coffee, which she drinks with honey. “I always knew that I would have a hard time getting a role in commercial and studio films and that my niche would be independent film and theater. But…sometimes that doesn’t go very far.”
When “Killers of the Flower Moon” casting directors first approached her about the film in 2019, Mollie only had three scenes in the script. It was a Martin Scorsese movie, so it wasn't like he was going to pass away. Gladstone, whose father is Blackfeet and Nez Perce, thought he would try to get the role and then do what Native American actors too often have to do: try to influence and reshape the role to make it authentic and meaningful.
Lily Gladstone in a courtroom scene in “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
(Apple TV+)
But then the pandemic put the film on hold and he simultaneously increased his duties at home, caring for his uncle, his grandmother and a father whose job as a boilermaker left him with a compromised immune system. “It's a gift I accept,” Gladstone says of caring for the elderly. Meanwhile, invasive hornets began showing up in Washington, posing a threat to the state's bee population. (Ah, 2020.) Gladstone went online to apply for a seasonal data analysis job tracking hornets for the state agriculture department. Just as he pulled out his debit card for the application, an email notice appeared on his screen: Skype with Martin Scorsese.
“Like that second one,” Gladstone says, shaking his head. He learned that Scorsese had retooled the script, focusing more on Mollie and her poisoned relationship with her husband, Ernest (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It wasn't long before Scorsese cast her in the role that would change her life forever.
“I followed up on Zoom with her and Leo after that first call,” Scorsese told me last year. “But I already knew it. Leo asked me: 'Are you sure?' I was sure. Lily possesses a presence that you can't teach. She trusts in tranquility. She trusts that the power of her presence can come from being still. To be honest, I can't imagine the movie without her.”
Gladstone has spent much of January holed up in a hotel in Beverly Hills, her base of operations, while attending awards shows and continuing to promote “Killers.” A Valentino dress, habit The dress Gladstone's mother wore to the Golden Globes is hanging in her bedroom closet. They are still waiting to find out if they could keep it.
Between events, Gladstone recently managed to visit native filmmaker friends in Tulsa for a few days to brainstorm some projects and then travel to Oklahoma City for a Jason Isbell concert. He would like to take his mom and his dad to the Oscars. “We will be the masked family,” he says. “They are very happy and proud.” She plans to soon announce a distribution deal for “Fancy Dance,” a drama about the challenges faced by Native women that premiered at Sundance last year. He's also up for a starring role in “Memory Police,” a twisted sci-fi parable written by Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation”).
Lately, Gladstone has been thinking about something “Reservation Dogs” creator Sterlin Harjo told him: If you're the person kicking down the door, your job is to stay at the door and keep it open. Just don't go through it, because if you do, it will close behind you.
“This is a moment for all of us,” Gladstone says of her historic nomination, news she shared with her parents on a tearful Facetime call. “It's a lot to put one person to represent a whole group of people who haven't been represented for so long.”
“It's overwhelming and I should have been late,” he continues. “The stories of our indigenous peoples have shaped the fundamental fabric of our modern age. And much of that is simply not known, not felt, not recognized. I'm grateful, but it won't be the last. Not by a long shot.”
Gladstone smiles and lets out a sigh, finishing the last of his coffee.
“I've said this several times to people close to me… I'm so glad this breakthrough happened to me when I was 30 and not when I was 20,” Gladstone says. “I really care about all the young people that come after me. I am grateful to have made progress at a time when there have been these incredible changes in our industry. Cynics want to belittle moments like this, but it's just about seeing the excellence in all these untold stories. That's exciting.”
She extends her hand and offers a promise: “Native women are unstoppable. We are an unmanageable bunch and you will hear a lot from us in the future. And you won't be disappointed.”
Times staff writer Jen Yamato contributed to this story.
