10 months ago
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When I was writing about Lily Gladstone’s Golden Globe win, I screwed up as I tried to explain why I have such mixed feelings about Lily’s Oscar campaign for Killers of the Flower Moon. Lily is good in the movie and she does a great job with the material. But I have real problems with KOTFM, and my anger towards the movie sort of spilled out onto Lily, because Lily is already picking up a lot of awards for the film. As I explained in our latest podcast, originally KOTFM was supposed to be more about the newly-formed FBI investigating the murders of the Osage people (mostly women). Then Martin Scorsese decided that he didn’t want to tell a white savior story, as in “all of these murders happened and then the FBI came in and saved the day.” But Scorsese’s solution to the “white savior” problem was to refocus the story on the murderers. Instead of an Osage-focused story, instead of centralizing Mollie Burkhart and the Osage families, the film is about the white men who systematically murdered the Osage for years.
All of which to say, I don’t think Lily Gladstone’s Mollie is even “the lead” in the film – it was more about Leo DiCaprio’s character and Robert DeNiro’s character. Lily isn’t the first actor to category hop, but it definitely feels like Lily’s Best Actress wins are papering over the larger problems with KOTFM and the problems with building the narrative in this particular way. Well, I’m not alone in feeling this way. Indigenous actor Devery Jacobs blasted KOTFM several months ago – Jacobs worked with Lily on Reservation Dogs, and here’s some of what Jacobs said about the film:
“Being Native, watching this movie was f–king hellfire. Imagine the worst atrocities committed against [your] ancestors, then having to sit [through] a movie explicitly filled with them, with the only respite being 30 minute long scenes of murderous white guys talking about/planning the killings. It must be noted that Lily Gladstone is an absolute legend and carried Mollie with tremendous grace. All the incredible Indigenous actors were the only redeeming factors of this film. Give Lily her g–damn Oscar. But while all of the performances were strong, if you look proportionally, each of the Osage characters felt painfully underwritten, while the white men were given way more courtesy and depth.”
“I don’t feel that these very real [Indigenous] people were shown honor or dignity in the horrific portrayal of their deaths. Contrarily, I believe that by showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people. This is the issue when non-Native directors are given the liberty to tell our stories; they center the white perspective and focus on Native people’s pain,” Jacobs wrote, while later adding: “I would prefer to see a $200 million movie from an Osage filmmaker telling this history, any day of the week. I’m sorry, but Scorsese choosing to end on a shot of Ilonshka dances and drumming? It doesn’t absolve the film from painting Native folks as helpless victims without agency.”
Yeah, I 100% agree with all of this. It’s especially egregious to think of the run-time – with nearly four f–king hours, you couldn’t even center Mollie’s story for an hour? Again, the film is still centered in whiteness – instead of a white savior, we have a four-hour meditation on the white murderers and how THEY feel about murdering the Osage. Well, in a recent profile, Lily was asked about Jacobs’ comments. Here’s Gladstone’s response:
“We’re friends. I crashed on her couch in Toronto when ‘Certain Women’ played at TIFF,” Gladstone said when asked about Jacobs’ criticisms, with Rolling Stone noting the actor’s “face drops” when the topic is brought up. “I don’t want to bring heat back on her for this because I think that’s unfair. Her reaction is hers.”
“Her reaction is a response to a lot of trauma that particularly Native women feel seeing these things for the first time,” Gladstone continued. “I had a lot of time acclimating myself to the script. The Osage people have had their lives to understand this history. The process of making this movie gave a lot of people a chance to speak. Ultimately, Osage reaction is what I care about the most.”
I think Gladstone’s response is fair – clearly, Jacobs is entitled to her opinion, and yet Gladstone is (rightly) proud of the film and her work in it. I also think it’s deeply unfair to put this on Gladstone in any way – she didn’t produce it, she didn’t write it, she didn’t direct it. While it’s fair to ask Lily about Jacobs’ criticisms, I’d like to hear Marty Scorsese and Leo’s reactions too. It felt like Marty rewrote the script specifically to “give” Leo a showy lead role, and from there, all of the Osage stories were marginalized.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Lily Gladstone wearing Valentino arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835207952, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Lily Gladstone, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Lily Gladstone wearing Valentino arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835208130, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Lily Gladstone, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 11: Lily Gladstone at the National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala 2024 at Cipriani 42nd Street on January 11, 2024 in New York City. Copyright: xRWx,Image: 836268255, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/RW / Avalon
NEW YORK, NY- JANUARY 11: Lily Gladstone at NBC s Today Show on January 11, 2024 in New York City. Copyright: xRWx,Image: 836298620, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/RW / Avalon
Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio arrives at the 14th Governors Awards in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on Tuesday, January 9, 2024,Image: 836569687, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Trae Patton / @ A.M.P.A.S / Avalon
Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone, and Leonardo Di Caprio arrive at the 14th Governors Awards in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on Tuesday, January 9, 2024,Image: 836569701, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Trae Patton / @ A.M.P.A.S / Avalon
