‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ star blasts ‘Yellowstone’ as ‘deplorable’ but auditioned for show ‘several times’
The actress became the first Indigenous person to win a best actress Golden Globe for her performance in the movie
“Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone blasted “Yellowstone” for its portrayal of the American West but admitted that she had previously auditioned for the hit series.
The 37-year-old made history when she became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture drama earlier this month. In a resurfaced interview with Vulture from August, Gladstone slammed “Yellowstone” over what the outlet described as the show’s “cowboy mythmaking.”
“Delusional! Deplorable!” Gladstone said of the series, which was created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson.
“No offense to the Native talent in that,” she added. “I auditioned several times. That’s what we had.”
According to Vulture, Gladstone’s father is of Blackfeet and Nez Perce heritage while her mother is White. In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Gladstone shared that she lived on the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana until she was 11.
Gladstone starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was directed by Martin Scorsese and based on David Grann’s non-fiction book of the same name.
The actress played Mollie Kyle, an Osage Nation woman living on the tribe’s reservation in Oklahoma. In the movie, her character marries World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio).
Set in the 1920s, the film follows Mollie as she “fights to survive and bring to light the spree of greed-fueled murders committed against the Osage community after oil was discovered on their land,” per a plot synopsis.
During her interview with Vulture, Gladstone praised “Killers of the Flower Moon” for focusing on its Indigenous characters.
“It’s not a White savior story,” she told the outlet. “It’s the Osage saying, ‘Do something. Here’s money. Come help us.’”
In a November 2022 interview with The Atlantic, Sheridan slammed critics who claimed that “Yellowstone” was “anti-woke.”
“They refer to it as ‘the conservative show’…‘the Republican show’ or ‘the red-state ‘Game of Thrones,’ ” he said.
Sheridan continued, “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…about corporate greed…the gentrification of the West, and land-grabbing. That’s a red-state show?”
The Paramount+ show, which stars Kevin Costner in the lead role of ranch owner John Dutton, will air the second half of its fifth and final season in November 2024.
