Lily Gladstone is Still a Winner
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 8:38PM by Ginny O'Keefe
Lily Gladstone at the Oscars . Screenshot from ABC
The Oscar hangover is in full effect as I write this on Monday afternoon. Endless thoughts and reflections from the night before keep circling the drain of my movie brain in a never-ending swirl. Thoughts on Cillian Murphy’s humility, Ryan Gosling’s unwavering commitment to the bit, Johnathan Glazer’s courageous words, and even John Cena’s nudity. But one giant thought seems to spin around in my mind the loudest; the thought of Lily.
Like many this year, I had huge hopes for Lily Gladstone when it came to awards season. Back in May, when Killers of the Flower Moon had its premiere at the Cannes Film festival, it had received a formidable 9-minute standing ovation. And as the festival camera did its traditional audience coverage during the rolling credits to showcase the film’s stars, it was the lingering shot of Gladstone wiping away tears while sporting a glowing smile that had me absolutely certain of one thing; this is her year...
I have been a fan of Gladstone since 2016, when I got to experience her raw talent in Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women at the Sundance Film Festival. Her character’s vulnerability and adorable absorption easily made her my favorite performance in the film and one of the best performances I had seen in the entire run of the festival. Later, as she got up onstage with several other cast members for a talkback, wearing a white dress with red flowers in the middle of January in Utah, I couldn’t help but wonder: who is this girl? Who indeed.
Cut to February 2021. I was already well aware that pre-production for a film adaptation of David Grann’s haunting true-crime book, Killers of the Flower Moon, was underway. And like most film enthusiasts I was beyond thrilled that it would be adapted with Martin Scorsese at the helm as director with Leonardo DiCaprio starring and producing. Their star power would undeniably help make this tough subject matter appeal to and attract a wide audience. But when I had seen Lily Gladstone’s casting announcement as Mollie Burkhart, my excitement for the project reached a whole new plane of existence. The collective buzz for this unmade movie was already guaranteed to be colossal, and now thanks to this casting announcement blanketed with an unspoken promise to showcase the talent of a Native American actor, it meant that Gladstone was going to be in for a wild and long overdue ride.
With this ride came record breaking history and unstoppable luminescence to Gladstone’s star power. Said star power constantly exuding stronger light than ever before thanks to every piece of press coverage, acting nomination, positive review, vocal praise from her A-list costars and elegant red-carpet appearance. However, this light came with a heavy albeit honorable weight on Gladstone’s shoulders. Because this success wasn’t just meant for her, this was meant for, as Gladstone puts it, “Every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust with and from each other,” All this being said whilst holding her first Golden Globe.
There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the mind of many others, that Gladstone is the heart AND the soul of Killers of the Flower Moon. She stands proud and tall while simultaneously lying open and bleeding with collective pain and scars that come with portraying Mollie Burkhart. Her face and her eyes say so much without having to say anything at all. Her performance brought about a united sense of autonomy amongst so many Indigenous performers in the industry and a newfound respect for depictions of Native Americans and their stories in film.
Her accomplishments cannot be undermined nor dimmed. She is the first Indigenous woman to win the aforementioned Golden Globe for best female actor in a motion picture-drama. She is the first Indigenous actor to win the SAG award for best performance by a female actor. She has merged her luxurious Gucci and Valentino red carpet looks with handcrafted fashions and jewelry made by fellow Indigenous artists. She has helped open the door wider than it has ever been opened before for creatives like her, all with the intention of ripping the door right off its hinges. All of this success can be met with rejoicing, while still acknowledging the disappointment coming at the end.
Gladstone made history once again back in February by being the first Native American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for best actress. I, like so many others, thought she had the Oscar in the bag. With a winning streak like hers, how could one not assume she would be taking the little gold man home? With the exception of Wes Studi (who won and honorary Oscar back in 2020), no Indigenous or Native American actor has ever won an Academy Award for acting in the award show’s nearly one-hundred-year existence. This could be the night where Gladstone makes history again. Bigger than ever before. At the end of the night, the announcement for best actress was about to be made with more apprehension filling this particular category than that of any others due to the tight final stretch between Gladstone and Emma Stone. The winner was announced. Apprehension that turned into excitement, then to shock, then to disappointment, then acceptance. All heavy and fleeting. Alas, Gladstone did not get to go onstage to collect the little gold man. Emma Stone’s fearless performance as Bella Baxter in Poor Things had been announced as the winner. Though the win wasn’t what many expected and it wasn’t what some (me) were hoping for, it made me come to two realizations: Emma Stone is worthy of the win, and Lily Gladstone didn’t lose.
Sure, in the literal sense she lost the award, but looking back on this year as a whole she has still come out on top still without her light being snuffed out. Starting off every acceptance speech for every award she won in customary Blackfeet greeting? Win. Acknowledging the callous and cruel treatment that Native Americans have had to face in the history of film and honoring the Indigenous performers that inspired and came before her? Win. Campaigning for Lead Actress and not settling for a campaign as a Supporting Actress? Win. Drumming up awareness to call for the safety of Native women across the country? Win. Getting to support and celebrate with the Osage Nation as they performed onstage in front of a global audience at the Oscars ceremony? Win. Becoming this award season’s darling and being the new people’s princess? Win. Becoming a source of pride to the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Osage Nation as well as an inspiration for countless Indigenous people? Win. Killers of the Flower Moon is the film that it is because of Gladstone. The film’s life blood comes from her talent and her everlasting light that just glows and glows.
And what is the best way to get her that well-deserved Oscar? Give her more roles. I had big hopes for Lily Gladstone and that hope has not waned even the slightest despite her not going home with a gold man to put on her mantle. The hope is that she continues to get her flowers in even more ways than she already has. The hope is to hear her customary Blackfeet greeting again and again. The one that goes, "Hello my friends/relatives. My name is Piitaaki (Eagle Woman). I am Blackfoot. I love you all." We love you too, Lily. We really do. Keep glowing.
Reader Comments (15)
Beautiful post. We can only hope Lily Gladstone receives many more opportunities to demonstrate the depths of her talents onscreen. She's certainly earned it.
I don't think she lost. I think this is the beginning. Let's hope she gets to be in some amazing films and win a shitload of awards.
Emma Stone clearly internalized a lot of the “narrative,” which is why she seemed borderline distraught to win and panicked that “something like this would happen.” These sentiments are absolutely ALIEN to Oscar history: Even Ingrid Bergman’s famous “apology” to Valentina Cortese was lighthearted and jovial by comparison.
I’m over it, frankly—the Oscars are the Oscars. We’re not watching some grand societal morality play. As refreshing as I found Stone’s win (although I preferred Gladstone) it would be lovely to see people stop taking the political stakes so seriously and just have fun with these moments. The “I’m sorry I did a bad thing” energy is bizarre to watch.
When Marcia Gay Harden won she wasn’t stricken by guilt at the thought of “stealing Kate Hudson’s moment.” She said “what a thrill.” More of that please!
Harden would not be stricken with the kind of guilt we are made to feel now probably because the list was made up of 5 white actresses.
This piece is written very nicely,prasing both Lily and Emma
I was rooting for Huller with Stone worthy of a 2nd win and Gladstone whilst good didn't thrill me as much as performances by Emma,Sandra,Natalie,Carey etc.
Oscars are meant to be fun and good for a guessing game of who we like or who we want to see recognised.
This seeing every art form through a prism of what's the right thing over what is best which is subjective anyhow is getting very tiresome.
I echo Mo'niques sentiment it can be about performance but often they just want certain people up there winning whether it's the 1st time or the second.
I'll repeat here what I posted in the first post-Oscars article: I'm hoping Gladstone gets another good part that gets her nominated again, but I'm not overly optimistic. The big difference between this and the seven other performances that won Globe and SAG without Oscar is that she is a well-behaved (so not Crowe or Murphy), younger (so not Bacall, Christie, or Close), and alive (so not Boseman) performer who also just doesn't appear to have anything on the horizon on this level (so not Zellweger). Getting so very close AND having so many people rooting for her knowing that she might not get this chance again makes this loss particularly painful. Yes, it would have been "better" for her Oscar chance if she had been in more of the movie and had more of a chance to emote more obviously, but getting this amount of publicity with such a performance should still help her career, for however far that might take her.
It's kinda refreshing that they didn't want to "make history" (as Oscars should not be about "making history" but about rewarding the best people in the movie business).
Gladstone was very good but Stone was better. End of story. :)
Call me skeptical that Emma Stone didn't want to win. She certainly campaigned as hard as anyone this season. She was even quasi-campaigning during the actors' strike (which may have been why Annette Bening, chair of the Actors' Fund, looked so put out when she won on Sunday).
I believe that Blanchett didn't want to win last year and that Lawrence didn't want to win in 2013 - they tried to subtly dissuade people from voting for them. Stone never did.
@DK, I think Emma Stone is welcome to react in anyway she pleases. It's her moment and her win. No one complained when, a somewhat shocked Olivia Colman, said kind words to Glenn Close. It's something that made her more endearing. I thought Emma's speech was endearing because she was so shocked, and because it was clear she thought highly of the other performances in this category.
All of that aside, this is a beautiful post. I'm very excited about what comes next for Lily. It looks like she has a supporting role in a hulu series and a small Sundance film that got distribution from Apple. She also has another role in a film in pre-production. I just hope this moment is one that leads to many roles for her.
@Joe —
Glad you brought it up. I feel similarly about Colman, about Blanchett signaling that she didn't want to win last year, about the 2022 Best Supporting Actress race discourse in general (which was entirely narrative based and barely about either frontrunning performance).
It’s a pretty new invention for people to act like they don’t want to win Oscars or feel bad for beating the person who’s “supposed” to win. It's a pretty new invention to give make-up honorary Oscars months after the "correct" person loses. There's almost zero trace of this stuff in Oscar history but keeps happening in this overly sensitive, media saturated time we're now living in.
I don't care for it, that's all.
Davus - with that thinking that’s why we have 94 out of 96 White Best Actress winners. It’s a little too naive. You don’t see roles like Bella being offered to a BIPOC actress so how will they ever get a chance to be able to show their skills like Emma Stone.
Jules - I’m a Blanchett stan and I can tell you that she campaigned her ass off for TAR more than any other campaigns in the past she had done. She even booked Hot Ones to appeal to younger demographic! I love her but last year it kinda showed me this other side of her that I havnt seen before. Yes, she said that awards are meaningless but she really wanted that third Oscar. Her Time magazine cover as Actress of the Year dropped as the start of the Oscar voting begun pretty tell you that her PR was top-formed. So she did campaign hard. Same goes for Emma Stone this year. And who can blame them?
I think people forgot that Emma Stone is also producer and face of the movie; she has to campaign; she is obligated to.
In general, I think campaigning is overestimated. I know some wins are attributed to campaigning but at the end of the day, voters have to love the movie and/or the performance. In tight race like this, campaigning does matter because the margin is so small. I'll never blame actors for over campaigning even for their nth Oscar, I mean, everybody do it.
I prefer Emma's performance but I am ok if Lily were the winner; I hope she gets another opportunity because she deserves it.
Tbh, Lily was already an indie darling on the rise, and this was her breakthrough as a major star. I definitely see her coming back with another nomination--a win would be amazing! It would have to be the perfect role. Unfortunately, this role wasn't the perfect one.
I'm not upset Emma won, it just makes me wish she hadn't won for La La Land even more--and I'm not just saying that bc now she has two, I never thought she should've won for that.
A beautiful article but I'm glad tt its the merit and performance, and not some history making narrative that finally wins!
My pick will actually be Sandra, but Emma totally deserves the win!
I just find it hilarious tt 99.5% of Oscars pundits/experts are so totally blindsided by SAG!! Most of them switch camp to Lily the moment she wins SAG, and the rest follow the herd in the days leading up to Oscar night, even thot they were still pretty unsure tt Lily will prevail.
I'm just glad tt the SAG stats are broken, so tt no one will rely on it to make their last min predictions next year ("But she wins SAG!! the most impt precursor!!" etc, etc).
Yes, actors make up the largest voting branch of the academy at 13% - 14%, but they are NOT the vast majority and academy members are getting more international (a good thing). Gladstone's narrative might not work on them the way it fire up the American's hearts. To the non-American voters, Emma & Sandra will be the more appealing & logical pick.
I know the the concept Lily being the heart & soul of the movie has been argued to death, but at only 27% and less than an hr of screen-time (w much of the latter half, being her drugged and laying camatose in bed), it really hurts her chance at winning in a Leading category.
This sounds v cliche but its true, she would be consider more seriously by voters if she has campaigned under supporting and will probably give Da'Vine a good run for her $ in the awards season.
So patronizing. It's giving me a rash.
Stone sharing how distressed she was at the thought of winning an Oscar is meant to humble her—to say she feels unworthy of the moment. It’s a form of ritual self-deprecation, privilege-checking. She’d probably get slammed if she didn’t do some form of throat-clearing.
But my issue is that those gestures have the opposite effect. What a strange and unrelatable sentiment to think “Oh no, I can’t win a Best Actress Oscar this year!” I’m not blaming her for it, because I think her anxiety is a product of our culture. It’s totally legible if you live and breathe “narrative,” which most people in the world do not.
I just find that it underscores the privilege (how many women can act worried about winning an Oscar???) rather than puncturing it.