DiCaprio is the main face of Scorcese’s new true crime epic. That’s the problem.

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese’s new big-screen epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered in theaters just over a week after Americans marked Indigenous People’s Day. Based on David Grann’s bestselling book, the story depicts the brutal serial murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. Given the inherent drama of the narrative and the buzzy casting, the film seems destined for critical success. But will it usher in a new era for Hollywood’s Native Americans?

The film seems destined for critical success. But will it usher in a new era for Hollywood’s Native Americans?

Thirty-three years ago, Kevin Costner’s “Dances with Wolves” delivered a watershed moment. After decades of cowboy-and-Indian Westerns, the movie cast Native actors in prominent roles and showed a human dimension to its Native characters.

Costner’s epic earned seven Academy Awards, including best picture, and a nomination for Native Canadian actor Graham Greene in a supporting role. The movie also brought in over $400 million worldwide and sparked a mini surge of Native-themed stories, like “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992) and “Geronimo: An American Legend (1993).” Television mini-series like “Son of the Morning Star” (1991) and “DreamKeeper” (2003) followed the same pattern. Even Disney jumped on the bandwagon with its animated hit “Pocahontas” (1995).

Many Native actors, including Wes Studi, enjoyed a boost in their careers because of “Dances with Wolves.” But for all its hype, Costner’s epic did not employ Natives Americans in prominent creative roles behind the scenes.

Change in the ensuing decades has been incremental. Television has arguably worked the hardest to increase representation, beginning with the 1990 TNT series “The Native Americans. Behind the Legends. Beyond the Myths.” featuring Hanay Geiogamah (Kiowa) as a producer. That same decade brought “Smoke Signals” (1998), the theatrical debut of the Cheyenne and Arapaho filmmaker Chris Eyre.

Recently, the streaming series “Rutherford Falls” and “Reservation Dogs” have employed Native artists in front of and behind the camera, including showrunners Sierra Teller Ornelas (Navajo) and Sterlin Harjo (Seminole).

Sadly, “Rutherford Falls” was cancelled and “Reservation Dogs” will end after its third season.

Now a major motion picture has its chance. “Killers of the Flower Moon” has proudly touted Scorsese’s collaboration with Osage Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear. To the studio’s credit, local Osage talent was hired in various production roles such as the costuming and art departments.

But no Native American is credited as being involved in the movie’s screenwriting, production or directing creative processes. This is an ongoing problem. Back in 2020, the Native American & Indigenous Writers Committee of the Writers Guild of America West addressed this same issue in an open letter advising the industry that merely using Natives as cultural consultants was severely limiting. They need to be hired as writers, directors and producers, too. 

This makes “Killers of the Flower Moon” both an interesting case study and ultimately a missed opportunity. The movie has tried to incorporate some Osage input, but it still is telling this story primarily through the lens of the white main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. As Variety has pointed out, DiCaprio grabs the lion’s share of the screen time. And the camera often lingers on his face, even when other characters are speaking.

Perhaps one bright spot is the movie’s female lead.

Lily Gladstone, an actress of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage, plays the Osage wife of her slippery husband (DiCaprio) and is already garnering some Oscar buzz.

“If you’re wondering if you should go see this film, at least go see it for Gladstone’s performance,” advised Osage News editor Shannon Shaw Duty in her review.

With her powerful performance, Gladstone joined a small but important club of Native female actors.

With her powerful performance, Gladstone joined a small but important club of Native female actors. Elaine Miles stole countless scenes as the unflappable Alaska Native receptionist in 1990s gem “Northern Exposure.” Jana Schmieding of “Rutherford Falls,” Devery Jacobs and Paulina Alexis of “Reservation Dogs,” Sheila Tousey in “Thunderheart” (1992), Irene Bedard in “Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee” (TV 1994), and the late Misty Upham in “Frozen River” (2008) all won accolades for their portrayals of strong, independent Native women. And Amber Midthunder’s starring role as a young Comanche warrior in Hulu’s release of “Prey” (2022), a prequel to the “Predator” series, proved that Native women can carry blockbusters. “Prey” was produced by Jhane Myers of the Comanche Nation; she was nominated for a Producers Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Gladstone’s presence and strength may very well continue to open doors for Hollywood’s Native women. But without Native American artists behind the camera in prominent positions, as well as in front of it, Hollywood will struggle to tell Native stories authentically — or without centering and privileging whiteness. Lily Gladstone deserves better, just like the real Osage victims of this white supremacist reign of terror did all those decades ago.

Angela Aleiss

Angela Aleiss is a film historian and former contributing writer at Indian Country Today. She has taught at UCLA and Calstate Long Beach and is the author of “Hollywood’s Native Americans: Stories of Identity and Resistance.”

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