Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone reacts to Devery Jacobs’ criticism of the film. Gladstone plays Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon, the female lead who is the Osage country tribe member who marries Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart in the film. Jacobs is a fellow indigenous actress, who is best known for her work playing Elora in the acclaimed series Reservation Dogs.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Gladstone responds to heated criticism from Jacobs surrounding Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone maintained that she and Jacobs are “friends” and “her reaction is hers,” thus she did not want to “bring heat back on her” for anything that Jacobs had said. Gladstone did maintain though that “Ultimately, Osage reaction is what [she] care[s] about the most.” Check out the full quote from Gladstone below:
We’re friends. I crashed on her couch in Toronto when ‘Certain Women’ played at TIFF. I don’t want to bring heat back on her for this because I think that’s unfair. Her reaction is hers. Her reaction is a response to a lot of trauma that particularly Native women feel seeing these things for the first time. I had a lot of time acclimating myself to the script. The Osage people have had their lives to understand this history. The process of making this movie gave a lot of people a chance to speak. Ultimately, Osage reaction is what I care about the most.
Devery Jacobs’ Killers of the Flower Moon Criticism Explained
Gladstone’s commentary comes months after Jacobs first came out with her biting criticism of Killers of the Flower Moon. Shortly after the film was released, Jacobs took to social media to deliver a long rant against the Martin Scorsese film wherein she referred to the film as “unrelenting and unnecessarily graphic.” More specifically, she wrote that she “believe[s] that by showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people.” Within her complaints about Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacobs still praised Gladstone’s performance, calling her “an absolute legend.”
Gladstone is not unaware of the kind of trauma that Killers of the Flower Moon can cause. Back in November, Gladstone urged Native women and youth to “See it when and only if [they] feel ready.” Alongside this message of caution and support regarding the film, Gladstone shared a number of mental health and other support resources targeted towards Native people, and especially towards women.
Killers Of The Flower Moon’s Title & Osage Meaning Explained
Martin Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon has an enigmatic title. Here’s what it means to the Osage Nation and to the historical drama’s plot.
The actress is equally as respectful in her most recent response, where she acknowledges the genuine “trauma” that seeing Killers of the Flower Moon can cause people. Gladstone and Jacobs’ disparate reactions show just how complicated the ethics of this film are. On the one hand, there was consultation from the Osage tribe while making Killers of the Flower Moon, and many of its members support the film, and on the other hand, Native women like Jacobs may feel retraumatized by the way Scorsese portrays the horrors. There is no right way for people, especially indigenous actors, to respond to such a heavy and complex film, and it is good that Gladstone leaves room for this discourse.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Killers of the Flower Moon is the next film from director Martin Scorsese, based on the non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, initially captured by David Grann. When members of the Osage tribe are murdered in the 1920s via mysterious circumstances shortly after the discovery of oil on Native-American soil, the FBI is established to uncover the true reason behind them.
