Lily Gladstone to Campaign for Best Lead Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon Performance

Lily Gladstone is campaigning for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 96th Academy Awards for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Per Variety, Gladstone will campaign for Best Actress in a Leading Role rather than Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 96th Academy Awards, which are being held in March 2024.

If Gladstone wins, she’ll make history as the first Indigenous woman to ever take home Best Actress at the Oscars. She’s the fourth Indigenous woman to ever be nominated for the award following Merle Oberon (1935’s The Dark Angel), Keisha Castle-Hughes (2003’s Whale Rider), and Yalitza Aparicio (2018’s Roma).

Michelle Williams made a similar move in 2022 when she campaigned for lead rather than supporting for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Gladstone will likely have to compete against Emma Stone for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Poor Things, while the supporting category is now left open and could go one of several ways.

Who does Lily Gladstone play in Killers of the Flower Moon?

Gladstone plays Mollie Kyle in Killers of the Flower Moon, which is directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese. Starring alongside her are Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Clemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser.

“At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight,” the official synopsis reads. “The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. Also starring Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is directed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, based on David Grann’s best-selling book.”

Killers of the Flower Moon releases theatrically and in IMAX on October 20, 2023.