- [Interviewer] If you had one word to sum up your award season
so far, what would it be? - Ffuleah. (all laughing)
(smooth guitar music) - That's not really a word. - It's a word in some circles. - Oh, in some places, okay. - In some places. I mean, Marty, you hired me because I'm good at the non-verbal acting. - No, you're really good, yeah. - That's, that counts.
(smooth guitar music) - No, that's true, I'm not saying, I just, I'm wondering,
(Lily laughing) you said one word, so it's gonna be one of those interviews
that're gonna be tricky. - Ah. (smooth guitar music) - I certainly feel like it's one of the most important
films I've ever worked on. Marty's different ways in different films, he sort of takes on the pathos of this story in a lot of ways. And in this movie, he
looked me in the eyes, it was a quiet moment, he said, "I feel this story in
my bones, it's in me. I have to tell it right." And he literally locked
himself up in Oklahoma for eight months, and was
obsessive about forensically getting to the truth of
who these characters were, how to tell this story the right way. And you know, I felt like he
took a great responsibility in telling this story the
best he possibly could, I've never quite seen that. And he's always obsessed
about making a great movie, but this one in particular
was sort of different level. (engine growling) - I don't know what you said, but it must've been
Indian for handsome devil. - Hey, shit.
(both laughing) - It's hard to explain
how you find chemistry between two actors,
(tense guitar music) your scene partner, it's
just, it's there or it's not. - I think we kinda discovered
it as it went along- - Yeah.
- In a lot of ways. I mean, there's the
underlying story of deception that is occurring,
(tense guitar music) but we knew the meeting between these two had to be organic, and tangible, and real, and there had to be a connection, because frankly, that's
what the Osage community kept telling us adamantly.
(tense guitar music) These two people-
- Yeah. - Did fall in love, they
did meet each other. It became incredibly corrupt, and twisted, and one of the most
(tense guitar music) twisted love stories I've ever come across in my entire life, all true. And so, the challenge was, you know, how much she knew I was complicit, how complicit I was at every moment.
(tense guitar music) And that's something I
think the three of us kept toying with and talking about, and doing multiple versions of, because- - Mm.
- We ultimately didn't know how much Marty, I think Marty, I'm not speaking for him,
(tense guitar music) but how much he wanted
to divulge the backstory to the audience while
we're making the movie. - Yeah, I feel like the
complicity is in the narrative, and if you're playing
(tense guitar music) the complicity, then it doesn't work. - Right.
- You play the love, (Martin mmhmms) and the complicity, and
the betrayal comes out of what is built with the love there. - What I saw Lily do in, let's say certain women, for example. - Do you happen to know anyone in town that could teach this class? - I don't know anyone at all. (laughs) (customers chattering) - And how she commanded
the space of the screen, and the emotional impact of what appears to be a kind of a minimal
movement, you know? It was very internal. And that's who, ah, that's what I thought I was looking for in terms of Molly. We had just started
really developing Molly, and I felt that Lily had, in her, that she would seriously find her, so that we'd all sort of
do it together, you know? - My process for everything
(tense guitar music) that I do, when the camera's rolling, when I'm in character, that's who I am. I, if I stay there, I start
spending it away from screen. I spend it off camera,
(tense guitar music) so I, I'm precious with it. Like, the time that I'm with
the character is the time that I'm with the other characters. When the camera's not
rolling, and we're in between, then I just, I need to
take the character off, and be Lily.
(tense guitar music) I need to be silly if
I'm doing drama. (laughs) (Martin mmhmming) A big part of how I found
Molly was in the community, and the community was on set with us. There were over 200
(tense guitar music) different tribal nations
represented on set. I needed to experience that as Lily. And it was so important, because that's what created the community, and that's what really drove
(tense guitar music) the tragedy of it. I feel like, Marty, a lot of the things that you've expressed
about working on this film, and working there,
(Martin mmhmms) it was a transformative experience- - And it was.
- Being in community like that. (people laughing and
speaking native language) (tense thumping music) - Marty gave me the
framework and the inspiration early on through "The Heiress," and Olivia de Havilland's work. And I saw that as a
real opportunity to fix a native woman into the
golden age of cinema, and this great leading lady,
which we were excluded from. So, it was a dual charge
playing an Osage woman the way the community was telling me Osage women conducted themselves then. Osage women carried themselves as if they were in the royal family, and it really lends itself to that golden age cinema leading lady. I felt like it was a really
important opportunity to show that that's who native women are. Oh, those were the role
models our grandparents' generations had when we were being told that being Indian wasn't right, you know, being who we were culturally wasn't who we were
supposed to be, you know? Exalt and lift up the
Elizabeth Taylors of the world, the Lauren Bacalls, the
Olivia de Havillands. It felt like a real opportunity
to balance those things, and fix where we've always belonged. (thumping folk music)
- They're like buzzards circling our people. ♪ Hey ♪ - We're still warriors. ♪ Hey ♪ - Every film is not for
every person, you know, every novel is not for
every person, every reader, I mean, every painting isn't, so, I don't know if it's
something that would be, you know, universally
accepted, but it felt right. (Lily mmhmms) This one felt right. And I felt that while I was watching it, I felt I was inside it, and I'd made it. - Yeah.
- It was a big difference. When I watched it again,
and particularly when my, I screened the mix. 'Cause now you're working on the mix, You're working on the sound of a car, you're working on the dialogue, you're going, oh, you're like this, you're like this, you're like this. (Lily laughs) And then suddenly, you're like, now we gotta look at the whole thing. I said, wow, it's got
all, it's a long one too. I don't know, you know? Instead, I watched the movie. I watched a movie, you know? And I made it. (person laughs) I'm not kidding, it's
like one of those things, and sometimes, you know,
you make something, and you know, that sequence,
let's move on, you know? - Yeah.
- This was, somehow I got, I got immersed in it again. And then I saw it again in
New York at the opening night, and then I saw it again in Cannes. (Lily mmhmms) - Wow.
- And I like it. (everyone laughing) I'm sorry. I do, I don't
what the hell to think. You know what I mean?
- You know what, I do. - I really, I really mean,
it's like one of the- - Exactly.
- It's not 'cause you don't like your other films. Very often, films are
associated, for me, (claps hands) they're associated with what was going on in your life at the time,
and sometimes the life, world as I know-
- Right. - This was all special, and this all seemed to come together as a culmination of years
,and years, and years of work. - Mm.
(smooth guitar music) (no audio)
