Lily Gladstone talks about her history-making Oscar nomination for 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
LOS ANGELES -- On Jan. 23, Lily Gladstone made history with her Oscar nomination as best lead actress for "Killers of the Flower Moon." She is the first Native American to receive the honor.
Since then, Gladstone has been deftly navigating this new world of awards season. Along the way, she took home both the Golden Globe and the SAG Award. Now, she has the possibility of getting an Oscar in her sights.
"It's a lot to fall on one person. I think like a nomination is a dream for any actor. Just getting to work is a dream for any actor. But carrying this historic moment can feel like to much sometimes in the moment, but the fact that it is shared, it feels like it belongs to everybody," Gladstone said. "I think 20 years from now, I'm probably going to remember the outpouring of support."
Gladstone wants to make sure the spotlight is shared not just with her fellow cast and crew members but all indigenous people who have been waiting for their stories to be told.
"It is an important story. It's something that you haven't seen before, and I think it really is an experience, just as a Native person, to see this level of a film that's one of our stories, but it is a traumatic thing," she said. "It's so helpful to see it with other people, to be able to unpack it, to be able to be angry, cry together, and to really talk about what's next."
Gladstone says she is doing her best to stay grounded amid all of the accolades.
"It's still sinking in. I really wanted to just take a moment to remind my little self, whatever that inner child is, or to kind of project back in the timeline to my little discouraged, bullied, overly-exuberant self that it's like, 'it's OK, it's OK. You're doing it,'" she said.
"I'm excited for that little girl that I once was," she added.
Gladstone is hopeful that her film, and her recognition for it, sparks more Indigenous stories in Hollywood.
"I definitely feel like this has set the new precedent for films at this level with this kind of budget, especially in the hands of largely non-Native creatives to have this truly collaborative, interdependence on each other," Gladstone said. "We have so many incredible Native filmmakers, storytellers who are doing it themselves.
"We are at a time where we have more of our storytellers getting the spotlight than we've had really since the 1920s. You know, it's taken 100 years to come back to that, where we're telling our own stories and people are interested."
"Killers of the Flower Moon" is now playing in select theaters and streaming globally on Apple TV+.
Along with Gladstone, another first timer was also nominated - German actress Sandra Huller for "Anatomy of a Fall." The other three nominees are Oscar veterans.
Annette Bening has earned five nominations this year for "Nyad." Carey Mulligan has three nominations under her belt, her latest for "Maestro." And Emma Stone has four acting nods on her resume, and one win for "La La Land." "Poor Things" is the film she's nominated for this year, both as an actress and a producer.
