Despite no Oscar, Mountlake Terrace still plans Lily Gladstone tribute

Published 4:38 pm Tuesday, March 12, 2024

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The Oscar didn’t go to Lily Gladstone. Not this year. But she’s still getting a proclamation in her honor.

Gladstone, 37, a 2004 Mountlake Terrace High School graduate, had many people here, and beyond, pulling for her to win best actress for playing Mollie Burkhart in “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

More than 150 people gathered at the high school Sunday for an Academy Awards watch party with a big screen, red carpet and cardboard cutout of Gladstone for photos.

“Every time Lily would appear on the screen, the whole crowd would start yelling and screaming, ‘Go, Lily, go!’” organizer Stephanie Rios said. “I lost my voice on Sunday screaming for my friend.”

They expected to see an acceptance speech by the actress. Instead, Emma Stone took home the Oscar for her role in “Poor Things.”

“When Emma’s name was announced, the theater went quiet for a split-second, then went into congratulatory applause,” Rios said. “Even though Lily didn’t get it, Emma was still deserving of a win.”

Stone praised Gladstone and other lead actress nominees Annette Bening, Carey Mulligan and Sandra Hüller. Many Oscar pundits predicted Gladstone would win.

Gladstone is the first Native American actress to be nominated for an Oscar. She won Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe best actress awards for her role in the Martin Scorsese movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” had 10 Academy Award nominations and left empty-handed. “Oppenheimer,” with 11 nominations, racked up seven awards, beating Scorsese’s film for best picture and best director. Robert Downey Jr. won best actor in a supporting role. De Niro was a contender for that statuette. So was Ryan Gosling, as Ken in “Barbie.”

Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright said the city plans to issue a proclamation for Lily Gladstone when she is in town.

“It is something we want to do personally at City Hall,” Wright said. “She brought Mountlake Terrace onto the map.”

Josh Ryder was in four high school productions with Gladstone. In the 2004 yearbook, the pair was voted “Most Likely to Win an Oscar.”

“That’s not in the cards for me, and that’s totally OK,” said Ryder, co-owner of Betty Restaurant & Bar in Queen Anne, on Tuesday. “I studied theater in college. It’s a grueling life. There’s a lot of rejection. It wasn’t working for me anymore. But I love getting to support Lily, who has shown the tenacity and the grit to keep doing this and getting some big-time recognition. It’s badass.”

Social media exploded with Gladstone fans expressing pride for her achievements and next step.

“This isn’t the last time she is going to go to the Oscars,” Rios said. “She’s not done. We’re not done. We’re already planning her next premiere and what we can do for next year’s Oscars.”

Media outlets attending the high school’s watch party included “Access Hollywood” and Reuters.

In an Access video with a trio of greetings from Rios, Ryder and drama teacher Jeannie Brzovic, Gladstone said the watch party “meant everything” to her.

The actress went on to say: “Teenagers aren’t necessarily nice to each other. It was incredible to have a group of friends who just loved to get together and be theater nerds and supported each other. And it was just always fun and noncompetitive. It’s our 20-year reunion this year.”

She said she’d try to attend, adding, “I haven’t gotten my invite yet, guys.”

Gladstone wasn’t the only Snohomish County-raised nominee to lose a tight race for an Academy Award on Sunday. Christopher Miller, who was born in Everett and raised in Lake Stevens, co-produced the critically acclaimed “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and was nominated for best animated feature. But the movie lost to animation legend Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.”

Miller, along with his filmmaking partner Phil Lord, won the Oscar in 2019 for the first installment in their Spider-Man franchise.

Miller took to social media after the ceremony Sunday after host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly asked if Oscar voters let their children vote on the best animated feature category. He called the joke “tired and lazy.”

As for losing to Miyazaki, he wrote on X, “Well, if you’re gonna lose, might as well lose to the GOAT.”

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.