Film industry experts predict Lily Gladstone Oscar win
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Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World
Lily Gladstone fans await the January 23 announcement of Oscar nominees and the March 10 award ceremony, hoping for more historic accolades for the Indigenous actress.
She could become the first Native woman to be nominated for or win an Oscar for best actress and has already overcome Emma Stone to become the official Oscar front-runner for best actress, according to Hollywood awards prediction website Gold Derby. Gladstone edged out Stone in all four of Gold Derby’s prediction voting pools, including among 25 expert journalists and the website’s 11 editors, as well as its Top 24 users and All-Star Top 24 users.
In a December People article, Gladstone is quoted saying she prefers she/they pronouns. ICT will use she/they interchangeably to refer to Gladstone.
Gladstone became the first Native woman to win a Golden Globe for best actress last week and tribal nations have celebrated their win across social media. Two film industry experts recently interviewed by ICT also predicted a Gladstone win come March.
In a recent ICT and Tulsa World interview, Indigenous film critic Vince Schilling said, “First of all, I think it’s absolutely wonderful seeing that Lily Gladstone won a Golden Globe, and I just remember tears running down my face as I saw Lily Gladstone not just walk up to the stage, with this larger than life energy, but the first thing that she does is speak words from her Blackfeet language.”
For many Native nations, it is customary to introduce yourself on stage in your Native language, making the moment familiar for much of the Indigenous audience both in person and at home.
“I really did realize at that moment, not only did she take her place in history, but she cemented the moment by speaking her language first, and then saying that this is for all the rez kids, urban kids, big kids, little kids watching this is, this is for you. I don’t care how old you are. I’m 56, and I was a little urban on Compton Boulevard, so that hit me, and I was emotional.”
While Native nations have publicly celebrated Gladstone’s achievement, Schilling remarked how proud Gladstone’s family must be.
“The video I want to see is what the Gladstone family living room looked like watching her win the Golden Globe,” he said.
Schilling mentioned an Instagram post Gladstone shared of a cartoon drawn by Santo Domingo Pueblo cartoonist Ricardo Cate.
“It’s two precious kids sitting on the floor somewhere in a rez house, maybe it’s Navajo nation, something like that, and you just see a little bubble coming out of the TV that says ‘for every little rez kid.’ I was curious if she would get that Golden Globe, and I did feel like she was going to and had the strongest performance of every actor and actress, but Lily really did deserve it.”
Schilling strongly believes Gladstone will win the Oscar, and he recalled the moment he decided her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon” was Oscar-worthy.
“I do think she will win an Oscar. Watching Lily Gladstone’s performance, there was a moment when she was talking to her husband, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and it was about the insulin he was giving her, and she finally asks him a question about it, and he still played like ‘I don’t know,’ and she had this look on her face that just went back centuries. It was the most intense look, and just one of the most profound masterful executions of a moment in acting that I’ve seen in my career as a filmmaker, and when I saw it, I knew it. Like I said in my review, Gladstone’s character was an open book with purposefully hidden chapters.”
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 81st Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 81st Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Gladstone also mentioned in their winning speech how Hollywood has changed over the years, becoming more understanding and respectful of Native cultures.
In an ICT and Tulsa World interview, Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative, a Native woman-led racial and social justice organization, said, “Lily Gladstone's Golden Globe win is a historic milestone for Indian Country, underscoring not only her exceptional individual talent but also her role as a powerful voice and advocate for the Osage Nation and their story. Lily's victory isn't just about the record book – this win represents radical change in Hollywood where Native peoples have fought erasure and misrepresentation for decades.”
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Gladstone observed in her speech how Native languages in Hollywood films used to be English lines played backward. Her speaking the Osage language, approved by the Osage Nation, was a noteworthy step to Gladstone.
Echo Hawk continued, “We are so proud of Lily, who has continued to ground herself in community during her historic rise, as her unparalleled talent and leadership forges a path toward greater inclusivity and authenticity in the entertainment industry.”
Oklahoma University film studies professor Joanna Hearn drew a connection between Gladstone and Indigenous filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi, who won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for his film JoJo Rabbit.
In an ICT and Tulsa World interview, she said, “Lily’s win reminded me of another landmark moment when Taika Waititi won an Oscar for JoJo Rabbit in 2019. He did a land acknowledgement at the Oscars and something along the lines of, ‘This is for all the young indigenous kids who wanna sing, dance and tell stories.’ He dedicated his win to Indigenous kids, all the storytellers coming up in the world.”
Hearn mentioned that Gladstone has done “a lot for young people, cultural training, language training, work with elders, but especially youth workshops that invest in the next generation.”
She applauded Gladstone’s community involvement throughout her career, her connection to and passion for upcoming Indigenous generations.
“I love the way she handled the win. She honored her family, her colleagues, and all Native youth. I just see much good will towards her community. … It’s a very good feeling,” she said.
Hearn also said she admired the good will Gladstone has received, as seen on social media over the last week.
“I saw my social media just blow up with good will and admiration, not only for her performances, her win, but her recognition of her colleagues and community.”
Like Schilling, Hearn has high hopes for Gladstone winning an Oscar this year.
“I’m excited about the Oscars. I absolutely think she should win it. I will be watching,” she said before commending Gladstone on her screen presence.
“She brings incredible power to the screen, in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ She brought a quiet gravitas, but she also can do incredible monologues, like her opening monologue in ‘Reservation Dogs’ Season 3.”
In 2022, Gladstone appeared in “The Unknown Country,” “Quantum Cowboys,” “The Last Manhunt,” “Fancy Dance,” six episodes on the TV series “Billions,” and two “Reservation Dogs” episodes.
“She can just sit at the table without speaking and command the screen, command the camera. She can perform when she has no lines, when she does have lines, and as we saw, when she has lines in the Osage language,” Hearn said.
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.
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