LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: While 'Killers of the Flower Moon' premiered on Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, actress Lily Gladstone is making headlines. The main theme of the Martin Scorsese adaptation is the mass murder of Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma. Gladstone, the lead actress, grew up on an indigenous reservation herself. 'Killers of the Flower Moon' star Lily Gladstone's family history is as rich and interesting as Montana lands where she grew up. Gladstone, 36, grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation until she was 11. She boasts proud Nez Perce, Blackfeet, Dutch, and Cajun ancestry and is also a distant relative of former British Prime Minister William Gladstone.
According to the site of Gladstone's alma mater, the University of Montana website, "Her father is Nez Perce and Blackfeet, and her mother is "Dutch and Cajun," and as an "ethnically mixed kid" she was also "teased" by her classmates. The university's website also describes her dramatic birth. "Her parents lived on the Blackfeet Reservation, and when her mother went into labor early one August morning, no one was available at Indian Health Service in Browning to give her a C-section," it says. So she was flown by rescue helicopter to Kalispell Regional Medical Center just as the sun crested the Rocky Mountain Front."
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While much information about her parents is not known, it is known that Gladstone has “tribal affiliations that include Kainai, Amskapi Piikani and Nimi’ipuu First Nations,” as mentioned in the biography of her in the press notes of ‘Certain Women.’ In an interview with The Guardian, she said once, “I lived in the reservations until I was 11, when we moved for lack of economic opportunities.”
‘I am shaped by my community’
In the same interview, Gladstone referred to her mother as a “bedrock of our family.” Her mother is known to be an early childhood education specialist. She also revealed that her maternal great great grandfather was the first cousin to the British Prime Minister, William Gladstone.
While talking about her father, she said, he is “one of the most brilliant men I know – a gentle giant. He has deep spirituality and sharp intelligence.” She revealed that while his father went to the University of Washington in the 1970s, he had to renounce the education as it was “not an easy time for an outspoken Native American.” He went on to become a broadcast journalist later on. The family history of her father’s side is as glorious as her great, great grandfather was a treaty chief of Red Crow.
She further revealed that when she moved to the suburbs after living in the reservation area for 11 years, she found city life to be disconcerting. She found the nuclear families to be not fulfilling enough, “Everyone seemed so isolated in their little homes.” Gladstone, who remained in touch with the Native American community further said, “I am shaped by my community – and I have been supported in my ambition to be an actor and storyteller.’’
'Everyone connected with the picture'
The film which is originally slated for an October 6 release, premiered at Cannes with a record-breaking standing ovation. Sitting through a movie of 3 hours and 26 minutes, the enthralled audience applauded the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer film for nine straight minutes. While thanking the audience, Scorsese said, “Thank you to the Osages,” before continuing, “Everyone connected with the picture. My old pals Bob and Leo, and Jesse and Lily. We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. It’s taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us. There was lots of grass. I’m a New Yorker. I was very surprised. This was an amazing experience. We lived in that world,” reports Variety.
