We Osages are waiting to see how many Oscars, 𐓁𐒻𐒼𐒰 𐓀𐒰͘𐓒𐒷 𐓒𐒻, the Gold Man, “Killers of the Flower Moon”brings home. Those of us not going to the Academy Awards are wondering where to watch and with whom. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is nominated for ten awards as everyone on social media, or even slightly interested in film or Osage current events, knows. Lily Gladstone is up for Best Actress, the first Native nominated, and Scott George is the first Osage nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
I’ve experienced KOTFM with the perspective of a writer, rather than a musician or someone in Performing Arts. This week I’ve been reading and watching interviews with Oscar nominees, including my Osage language classmate, Scott George.
As a non-professional, I evaluated the film’s impact personally. I wasn’t involved with the making of the film, but beyond seeing photos from months of filming and how Osages in period clothing recreated the 1920s in modern Pawhuska and Fairfax. This week I watched Oscar nominees discuss their work.
It’s fascinating to see the choices that these highly respected professionals made and glimpse their genius at work. Jacqueline West, nominated for Best Costume Designer, talked about her work with Osage designer and costume cultural adviser Julie O’Keefe.
It was uncanny to hear West describe the clothes of the period, fascinating to hear how she had photographed the blankets she had available to work with, so that she could recreate the color values in the black and white historical photographs she was working from. The precision present in the details describing clothes that our relatives—I’m thinking of my grandfather— would have worn in the Twenties contributes so much to the film.
Listening to West and John Fisk, Production Designer, I had a strange sense almost like ventriloquism to hear these non-Osages who had combed over photographs discussing details of our history and our culture. It was clear they wanted to represent it faithfully and respectfully. West used cowboy Tom Mix as inspiration for Burkhart, feeling he would have connected to that image.
Listening to Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto talk about the craft decisions involved in filming scenes was like being inside an unbound creativity. “We used silver lamé,” he told Variety. The grips held the fabric, loosely fastened to rods, so that the light bouncing off the fabric flickered as it illuminated Ernest Burkhart’s face in the pivotal scene when Bill and Rita’s house was bombed. He talked about work with Scorsese, who followed actor’s leads in filming. When Scorsese asked Gladstone where she would have been the night of the bombing, he followed her intuition and filmed the scene down the stairs of the basement, creating one of the film’s most affecting scenes.
Perhaps most exciting for Osages is Scott George’s nomination. In a Potawatomi Citizen news release George said he has tended not to compose new songs. George quoted his mentor Morris Lookout saying, “I don’t know why you’d want to make [new] songs. We’ve got 400 of them here that we’ll never sing all of them.” Yet, when he was approached by Scorsese, George was able to contribute an important touchstone to the film. George said he has given up counting how many interviews he’s given so far and how many different ways he’s found to answer the same questions.
There’s so much more to say about the movie. Lily Gladstone is gathering accolades; she received Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, and recently Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild awards. She used the spotlight to lift up Osages like costumer Lainie Maker who contributed to KOTFM. Maker worked with West on costuming and fitting principal and background actors nearly every day of filming,
Scott George and the Osage Singers will perform at the Academy Awards, and the beauty of the song that so many of us love, will echo the strength of each Inlonshka we’ve attended, celebrating our Osage 𐓁𐒻𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒷 before the world.
I’m grateful to witness this Osage endeavor and to celebrate our strengths and resilience. It’s important the systemic problems the film alludes to are addressed. The conversations that have evolved from the film, like the educational seminar the Osage News held in Pawhuska this October are a good beginning.
Osage News Examining In Trust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kszg09rOTkk
Conversation between Costume Designer Jacqueline West and Production Designer Jack Fisk https://www.thewrap.com/killers-of-the-flower-moon-sets-costumes/
Rodrigo Prieto discusses cinematic choices with Variety https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcp-mNeIhf8