Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone has some strong words for Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone. Gladstone, who stars in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, condemned the glorification of the American West within the film and television industry — specifically Yellowstone — calling it “delusional! Deplorable!”
Gladstone specifically criticized the portrayal of the West in Yellowstone, according to Variety, though she said that she doesn’t fault any Native American actors in the series, noting that she herself had auditioned for Yellowstone and that the series was what they had available.
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“No offense to the Native talent in that,” she said. “I auditioned several times. That’s what we had.”
Yellowstone Has Faced Criticism
Gladstone isn’t the only person to criticize Yellowstone. Since the show’s debut, there has been some criticism about the series, including that the show is “anti-woke” or romanticizes the West, focusing on a white narrative rather than one that confronts the region’s more complicated stories and situations, particularly those involving Native people and their experience. Yellowstone creator Sheridan, however, has countered that, claiming that the series is about corporate greed and gentrification.
“They refer to it as ‘the conservative show’ or ‘the Republican show’ or ‘the red-state Game of Thrones,” Sheridan said earlier this year. “And I just sit back laughing. I’m like, ‘Really?’ The show’s talking about the displacement of Native Americans and the way Native American women were treated and about corporate greed and the gentrification of the West, and land-grabbing. That’s a red-state show?”
Gladstone Says Killers of the Flower Moon Worked to Ensure Accurate Representation
Gladstone previously spoke about how Scorsese worked with the Osage Nation to make sure that Killers of the Flower Moon featured accurate representation of the community, something thing Gladstone says changed the film.
“The work is better when you let the world inform the work,” Gladstone said. “That was very refreshing how involved the production got with the [Osage Nation] community. As the community warmed up to our presence, the more the community got involved with the film. It’s a different movie than the one [Scorsese] walked in to make almost entirely because of what the community had to say about how it was being made and what was being portrayed.”
What is Killers of the Flower Moon About?
Here is the official description of Killers of the Flower Moon?
“At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone).”
“Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. Also starring Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion, Killers of the Flower Moon is directed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Eric Roth and Scorsese, based on David Grann’s best-selling book.”
Killers of the Flower Moon will be released in select theaters on Friday, October 6th. It will subsequently be expanded into a wide release on Friday, October 20th.
