Lily Gladstone says there were moments filming Killers of the Flower Moon when panic would set in at the thought of playing a role that could be so triggering.
She plays Mollie Kyle in Martin Scorsese’s historical drama about the Osage murders, a period in the early 20th century where members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in Oklahoma were murdered by white interlopers. She has won the Golden Globe award for best female actor in motion picture (drama) for the role and has been nominated for an Academy Award.
Gladstone, whose father is Blackfeet and Nimiipuu, split her childhood between Seattle and the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
She said it was the sense of community of the Osage Nation and the people from 230 other tribes who were on set at times that got her through difficult moments.
“You know what it’s like when we get together, when that many of us are together, we laugh,” she told CBC Indigenous.
“There’s kids around, there’s elders around. It just felt like, you know, very comfortable and familiar. So when the cameras were rolling on the trauma, you had this whole community with you that some, in between cuts, were laughing and enjoying themselves and having fun.”
Gladstone said the days when they were filming the wedding or parade scenes, or when the Osage community members showed up for the platform shot of the delegation going to Washington, were great.
She said one of the featured extras, Ericka Iron from the Osage Nation, asked all the Indigenous people on set their tribal affiliations and learned there were nearly 230 different tribes represented in the movie between the cast and crew.
Gladstone said even surrounded by so many Indigenous people there were difficult moments for her while filming.
She recalled a scene that stood out — not only for herself but also her co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro — when her character’s mother, played by Cree and Métis actor Tantoo Cardinal, was dying surrounded by her family.
Gladstone recalled trying to shake it off after they were done filming that scene.
“We’re doing these takes where we’re just sobbing and, you know, really feeling it and how hard that is and thinking about, you know, just in the film what’s happening,” she said.
“You’re watching her ancestors come collect her.”
She said as soon as they yelled ‘cut,’ Cardinal comically popped up and looked around, breaking the tension.
“We just were cackling, laughing that day,” Gladstone said.
Gladstone said DiCaprio didn’t know what to make of it at first but told her more of that kind of energy was needed in the film.
Gladstone agreed and said there needs to be more Indigenous humour depicted in films rather than Indigenous trauma and stereotypical stoicism.
‘Watch with community’
Gladstone notes that although the story takes place in the 1920s, not much has changed. She referred to the situation in Winnipeg where police believe the remains of two First Nations women they allege were slain by a serial killer are in Prairie Green landfill, but authorities are refusing to search it.
“Search the landfill,” said Gladstone.
“We’re talking about missing, murdered Indigenous women.”
Gladstone said she advised people in posts on her social media that they should watch Killers of the Flower Moon with their community. She recommended resources on her social media for those who didn’t have the opportunity to watch with their community and said she was grateful to see the film had many of those same resources on its website.
At the premiere for the Osage people, Gladstone said the theatre was packed with Osage who took comfort in being together while watching their traumatic history unfold on screen.
“You could feel the rage together,” she said.
“You can cry and be with your family while you’re watching it. You can see this history played out in this way that’s so triggering, because it’s truth, because it’s bringing up stories that people don’t know about in a way that really should disturb them.”
“When you see it in community and you see it together and you’re able to unpack it and you’re able to talk about it together, then it can become a really healing thing. It can become a really constructive thing.”
