Lily Gladstone explains why Native reactions to Killers of the Flower Moon are the “most important” to hear

Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone has revealed why Native American reactions to the film are the most important to hear.

Martin Scorsese’s latest film Killers of the Flower Moon has been on the receiving end of both positive and negative reactions.

The Golden Globe-winning movie, based on the 2017 non-fiction book of the same name, focuses on a series of murders of Osage members in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land. While the tribal members had retained mineral rights on their reservation, local corrupt white men schemed together to steal the their wealth.

One of the most outspoken critics of the movie has been from Reservation Dogs actor Devery Jacobs, who is Native American, and now one of the movie’s stars Lily Gladstone has responded to her remarks about the film’s portrayal of Native people.

Gladstone expresses the importance of listening to Native voices

When the movie premiered last October, Jacobs took to X (formerly Twitter) and explained that watching the movie “felt like hellfire.”

“Imagine the worst atrocities committed against yr ancestors, then having to sit thru a movie explicitly filled w/ them, w/ the only respite being 30min long scenes of murderous white guys talking about/planning the killings,” Jacobs wrote.

However, Jacobs went on to praise Gladstone’s role in the film, demanding she get an Oscar for her performance and stating “the only redeeming factors of this film” were the Native actors.

Gladstone has now responded to Jacobs’ criticism during an interview with Rolling Stone where she explained that Jacobs’ “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,” Gladstone explained. “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.”

Gladstone has always stood by the idea that Native women and youth in particular should see the film, but has stated that they should do so “only if you feel ready, and see it with people you feel safe with. You’ll likely have a lot of generational grief to process. You’re not alone.”

While Killers of the Flower Moon may not have gotten Native representation 100% right, their stories are incredibly important to put into the world, as they’ve been cast aside in Hollywood for far too long.