“And the Oscar goes to. . . Emma Stone!”
When Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone lost best actress to the Poor Things star at the Oscars on Sunday, I have to admit—I was gutted. I even cried. Not because I didn’t think Stone deserved it; her complex performance as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’s film was certainly worthy of a golden statuette. As an Indigenous person, my disappointment about Gladstone’s loss came from a more personal place: Had things gone differently this weekend, Gladstone would have become the Academy’s first Native American acting winner, a major moment for our community. That said, her nomination alone has broken barriers and opened doors. “It’s something that carried meaning for so many more people than just me,” Gladstone told Vogue ahead of the Oscars.
But my own feelings aside, much has been said and written about the tight Gladstone-Stone race leading up to the Oscars. Many have argued that Stone’s performance was more worthy of the win simply because she had way more screen time. But to me, the subtlety of Gladstone’s performance was precisely what made it so impactful. The star infused Killers with (much-needed) heart and soul, taking a challenging role—one with relatively little dialogue, as her character, Mollie Burkhart, spends much of the film bedridden and in total agony—with skill and nuance. Martin Scorsese’s movie simply would not be what it is without her, and her win would have proven that quieter performances can make as much of an impression as bigger, flashier ones.
Some have made the case that Gladstone should have campaigned in best supporting actress, instead, a move that could have boosted her chances of winning. But I disagree wholeheartedly with that idea. By submitting herself in the best-actress category, Gladstone established herself as a leading lady—and even though she lost, industry power players will now continue to recognize her as such. Too often, Indigenous women in Hollywood are not recognized as widely as their white counterparts, so Gladstone’s visibility throughout this award season was a win in and of itself.
It’s also not the worst thing to lose out on an Oscar. Having won a Golden Globe and a SAG, Gladstone had already secured her place in Hollywood as a skilled actor who can make a role memorable; she didn’t actually need the Academy Award. Indeed, winning an Oscar after one’s first nomination has even been known to cause something of a curse, in which actors are typecast for the role they won for and struggle to find worthy follow-up projects.