To say Lily Gladstone’s awards season was historical is a gross understatement. Thanks to her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Gladstone was able to highlight indigenous representation in a way that no one before her has been able to do. And even months later, she is able to reflect on it and make some observations.
Speaking in an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, Lily Gladstone was asked to reflect on her historical awards season, and in particular, her Oscar night heartbreak, where she was expected to win Best Actress and instead lost to Emma Stone. For Gladstone, the result isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things.
“I mean, I always tried to keep an arm’s length from it. I mean, getting to engage in it, getting the campaign for it, getting to have the historical moment of it,” explained Gladstone. “It meant so much for indigenous representation. It meant so much to Indian country. And I think it meant a lot to a lot of people. I was out there for them.”
She added, “And this film, particularly, was so important. It was so important that audiences had this moment to really fall in love with a Native woman, to feel protective of a Native woman in a society where we are disproportionately the ones that are not protected.”
Gladstone even shared a story about how she connected with one of her young relatives, who watched her on Oscars night.
“Like this little girl – who is actually like my relative. We’d never met before,” said Gladstone. “There’s a picture of her standing there watching the Oscars and she’s got her long hair out. She’s in her pajamas and her living room and I’m on the screen watching the stage. And just that moment of a little Black Feet girl watching a Black Feet woman in that setting. That’s what was impactful. And then I got to meet her and give her a big hug about a month later at Lily Gladstone Day.”
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem as if Gladstone is a one-hit wonder. She’s currently seen in the Hulu series, “Under the Bridge,” and has a number of other projects coming up. You can hear the full interview with her later this week on Bingeworthy.
–additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo