Lily Gladstonewill star inThe Memory Police, a story she believes is affecting because it “could take place everywhere.” During a Sunday screening ofKillers of the Flower Moonin Los Angeles - Gladstone, to the surprise of many, was not nominated for a BAFTA and was not present at the awards ceremony - she discussed the significance of the upcoming film (viaDeadline), sharing:
“It’s the kind of story that could take place everywhere. I think anybody who comes from a world culture or a history where there’s been a systematic effort to erase your sense of who you are, your memories, your language, your culture – in this film, birds are disappeared because they’re deemed unnecessary.”
According to the film’s synopsis,The Memory Policetakes place on an unnamed island where things have begun to disappear. However, a rare few are able to remember all that no longer exists, but the Memory Police are determined to verify that what has been erased remains forgotten forever. Discussing the film’s plot, Gladstone said:
It’s on an unnamed island at an unnamed place, unnamed time. So it takes place nowhere and therefore everywhere.
The Memory Policeis directed by Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale). The upcoming film will reunite Gladstone with herKillers of the Flower Moondirector, Martin Scorsese, who will serve as an executive producer.The Memory Policeis adapted byCharlie Kaufman(Being John Malkovich) from the novel of the same name by Yoko Ogawa.
“The adaptation is done by Charlie Kaufman, so it’s labelled as a sci-fi, but in the way that ‘Eternal Sunshine’ and ‘Synecdoche, New York’ was a sci-fi. It happens very much in the subconscious mind and deals with, of course, themes of memory, authoritarianism,” Gladstone said.
Gladstone is currently the only star announced for the project.
Lily Gladstone Makes History with Killers of the Flower Moon Role
Although Gladstone has been acting professionally for over a decade, she is best known for her work on Scorsese’s 2023 crime epicKillers of the Flower Moon. She recently made history as the first Native American to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Upon receiving the Oscar nod,Gladstone questioned why it had taken this longfor an Indigenous North American to earn a nomination:
“Why am I the first? Why did it have to take this long for me to be the first Indigenous North American? Most of the films that show up in these categories are shot on Indigenous land in North America, and it’s taken this long.”
Killers of the Flower Moon: Where You’ve Seen Lily Gladstone Before
Here are some projects you might recognize Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone from.
Gladstone has received consistent praise for portraying Mollie Kyle (later Burkhart) inKillers of the Flower Moon, a real Osage woman who becomes wealthy after oil is found on Osage land. She is among the favorites to win the Oscar statuette for Best Actress, alongside Emma Stone (Poor Things) and Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Gladstone is also a frontrunner in the Screen Actors Guild Awards race for Best Actress - the ceremony will air on February 24 on Netflix.
Including Gladstone’s nomination,Killers of the Flower Moonis up for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture,Best Director for Scorsese, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro (notably absent is DiCaprio for Best Actor,which many have deemed a snub).
The96th Academy Awardswill air on ABC on March 10 at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT.
