Fancy Dance: Lily Gladstone & Cast on Native American Stories in Cinema

In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly, Erica Tremblay, a powerhouse Native American storyteller, joins Kyle McMahon to discuss her groundbreaking film "Fancy Dance" on Apple TV Plus. Tremblay opens up about her creative journey and the deep-rooted inspiration behind her latest work, which centers on a Native American hustler navigating harsh realities to protect her family. She also shares rich insights into her collaboration with the extraordinary talents of Lily Gladstone and newcomer Isabel DeRoy-Olson, emphasizing the significance of portraying the human struggles and resilience of Native characters. Their conversation uncovers the meaningful themes highlighted in the film, such as the Indian Child Welfare Act and the broader challenges faced by Indigenous families.


We also have the privilege of hearing from the film's stars, Lily Gladstone and Isabel DeRoy-Olson. Gladstone provides a heartfelt reflection on her personal connection to the film’s narrative and the transformative impact of authentic representation on screen. Meanwhile, DeRoy-Olson's impressive debut is celebrated, shining a light on the lived experiences of Native and Indigenous people in America. This episode is a compelling exploration of the power of cinema to bridge cultural divides and foster greater understanding, offering hope for a future where stories of marginalized communities are told with genuine empathy and respect.

Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I talk with the Academy Award nominated
Lily Gladstone and the cast of thenew Apple TV Plus movie Fancy Dance.
Let's go Welcome to pop Culture Weeklywith Kyle McMahon from my Heart Radio,
your pop culture news, views,reviews and celebrity interviews on all the movies,

(00:20):
TV, music and pop culture uCRABE Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon net
Nana nut Net, Hello and welcomethe pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon.
I of course am Kyle McMahon,and I can't thank you enough for once
again hanging out with me to discusspop culture, movies, music, TV

(00:44):
news, streaming technology, whatever itis you know, we cover it here
today. It is all about thebrand new film Fancy Dance, which is
in select theaters across the country anddebuting and exclusively on Apple TV Plus.
Fancy Dance is it's a really incrediblefilm that you have to see. It

(01:08):
really is just that good. Soit's directed and written by Erica Tremblay and
the byeline is following her sister's disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece
from the child's white grandparents and setsout for the state powwow in hopes of
keeping what is left of their familyintact. It is. It stars Lily

(01:32):
Gladstone and Isabelle Deroy Olsen, whoI talk to both of those as well.
It is really, really, incrediblypowerful. It's a great film that
you know, opened my eyes toNatives, Native Americans, indigenous people to

(01:52):
the land of America and North America. And wow, it is really good.
It is touching, it is powerful, It is sweet in moments,
it is shocking in moments. Itis incredible. I highly suggest that you

(02:13):
watch Fancy Dance exclusively on Apple TVPlus, or if you're lucky enough to
be in one of the major marketsto go see it in the theater.
Do that because it's, you know, always the best if you can to
see it in the theater. SoI speak with director, writer Erica Tremblay
as well as the amazing Lily Gladstoneand Isabelle Deroy Olson all about Fancy Dance.

(02:37):
So Erica Tremblay will start with her. She is a Native herself.
She was a producer on Reservation Dogon FX, which I absolutely loved.
She also was a director there.She did a short film in twenty twenty
called Little Chief, which also starredLily Gladstone, and that is really amazing

(02:59):
as well. Well, let's justget into my conversation my interview with Erica
Chremblay. Thank you so much,Erica for speaking with me. I really
appreciate it. So, first ofall, congratulations on an incredibly beautiful and
powerful film. It is stunning inso many ways. This is your first
feature length film. Why was itimportant for you to tell this story as

(03:23):
your first feature Yeah, you know, as a Native woman who grew up
in my community, I really wasjust inspired to tell a story about like
the women in Queer folks who havemade me who I am, and I
wanted to, you know, tella love story back to these incredible women
who work so hard to educate ourkids, keep our kids safe. And

(03:46):
Jax is this amalgamation of so manypeople in my life and my co writer,
Michiana's life, and you know,Jax is trying so hard and doing
so much to keep her niece safe. And I'm just really inspired people who
may not have a lot but cando a lot. And that is certainly
a character that I want to writefor and was so grateful that Lily so

(04:11):
beautifully brought to life. Did youyou had worked with Lily previously? Correct?
Did you know as you were,you know, putting the film together,
like I like Lily, this isgoing to be Lily. Yeah.
Right after the success of our shortfilm Little Chief, I said, hey,
do you want to do a featuretogether? And so as Michiana and

(04:31):
I were writing, we were sharingdrafts with Lily, and Lily was really
instrumental in helping build Jack's as acharacter. And just to be able to
like imagine Lily as we as wewere writing was was so helpful. Uh.
And and you know, Lily's wantincredible. Lily is Lily Gladstone.
And what a wonderful experience to havegotten to work with with them twice now

(04:57):
and then of course to find Isabelle. And two of them have so much
chemistry in real life and on screen, it's like as a director, it's
like I just would sit there andbe like, okay, I do your
thing and cut, Okay, We'vegot it, because they're both just so
incredibly wonderfully talented and so refreshing,you know, to see on screen.
What do you hope that people particularlylike me people that are not Native or

(05:23):
Indigenous, which, by the way, that's one of the reasons I love
film is that, you know,it is able to show me slices of
life that otherwise I would be ignorantto and really opens my eyes to these
worlds that are right next door tome. What do you what do you
hope the viewer takes from from watchingFancy Dance? Yeah? You know,

(05:46):
we really tried to construct a narrativethat doesn't beat you over the head with
like a procedural of like we're goingto teach you this lesson. And I
think by way of Frank and Nancy, who are these non native characters in
our film who really, in theirhearts are trying to do the best thing.
I'm hoping that people will see thehumanity in Jackson Rokie and what they're

(06:08):
traversing and what they're going through.And my hope is that non native folks
will watch this and be like,WHOA, what's happening next door to me?
And they will they'll recognize their rolepotentially in some of these oppressive systems
and and want to be a bettercitizen to their native neighbors. And I
feel exactly the same like art canbuild bridges between us, and hopefully this

(06:30):
film will will have the ability,uh to do just that. Like that's
that's the hope and the dream.Yeah, I think you've absolutely aced that.
It is such an incredible film.I can't wait for everybody to see
Fancy Dance exclusively on Apple TV Plusand actually a theatrical release first, but
then exclusively on Apple TV Plus.Thank you so much, Erica, Thank

(06:53):
you, Erica Tremblay. Love her, She's incredible. I can't wait to
I can't wait for everybody to seeFancy Dance. But I can't wait to
see what Erica does next. Allright. Next up Isabelle de roy Olsen.
So she plays Rokie in the filmin Fancy Dance, and she is

(07:15):
awesome as well. She was inThree Pines this series and now stars as
Rokie in Fancy Dance. Lily Gladstoneplays Jacks in Fancy Dance. Lily is
just a powerhouse. She's from Montana, was raised on the black Feet Indian
Reservation, went to University of Montanawhere she got a bachelor's in acting and

(07:39):
directing and a minor in Native Americanstudies. So she has come up.
I mean she's put in all ofthe work, but she has really come
up in the last couple of years. She played Molly Burkhardt in Killers of
the Flower Moon, which of courselanded her a Oscar nam for Best Actress

(08:00):
for the twenty twenty four Academy Awardsthe Oscars. With that, Lily became
the first ever Native American actress tobe nominated for an Oscar, which is
insane, literally insane, but itis well deserved. And she's amazing,
and she's amazing in fancy dance.I mean, Lily is just a powerhouse

(08:24):
and she's such a nice person.I can't wait for you to hear this
interview. So let's jump right into my interview with the one and only
Lily Gladstone and Isabelle Deroy Olson.Thank you both so much for joining me.
I really appreciate it. Thank youof course. So first of all,
congratulations in the film. It ispowerful cinema. It is beautiful and

(08:48):
heartbreaking and incredible all at once.I wonder, as a viewer, what
is it that drew you to tellthe story? What really drew me towards
it was how real it felt,you know, upon first reading the script,

(09:09):
you know, my mom and Isat down at breakfast and just started
crying because we were so moved byit and we really saw ourselves in it.
You know, I grew up withouta lot of representation and without being
able to look at a film andsay, oh, that's me. But
the fact that I get to bea part of something that can do that

(09:31):
for my younger cousins and my youngersibling who's thirteen, you know, they
can really relate to it, andI'm really grateful that they can look at
me and see themselves. I wason board no matter what the project was
going to be because I'd done ashort film with Erica Tremblay in twenty eighteen.
It premiered at sun Dance in twentytwenty, right before the Pandemic,

(09:56):
that one she had developed in thedance labs. Sterlin Harjoe was her mentor,
and Sterlin and I have been friendsfor a long time. So I
got a text from Sterlin out ofnowhere one day saying, hey, and
my mentee at Sundance, Erica Tremblayhas a short film she wants you to
look at. So I'm like,great, send it over. And meanwhile,

(10:16):
on the other end, Eric islike, oh my god, you're
not. I'm not going to getLily Gladstone because she loves Kelly Reichert and
was obsessed with certain women. AndSterlin said, yeah, just just dreamcast
your short film and she wanted me, so it was It's so funny now
that she was blown away that thatactually happened, that Sterlin just texted me,
because on the other end, I'msitting there looking for my next project

(10:39):
that's going to really excite me.And then her beautiful script comes in and
seven pages feels like a full feature, like every single beat that she wrote
in Little Chief spoke to this immenselarger picture with these very small, insular,
intimate moments between these two characters.It's a quiet film, but it

(11:00):
spoke multitudes, and there are sofew filmmakers who were able to just do
that. That's one of the powerfulthings about cinema is just the language of
film and being confident that you havesomething to say. So I loved that
Erica as a filmmaker, lets thingssit. She doesn't shove anything down in
anyone's throat. It's their space tocreate character and to have beats and to

(11:22):
have those lived in moments. SoI was hoping that she was she had
a feature in her because she's thekind of artist that I wanted to keep
working with and lo and behold.By the time we wrapped, she said,
I would really love to write afeature for you. Haven't I have
a character in mind. I don'tknow what it's going to be yet,
So I'm like, great, whateveryou want, I'm there for it.

(11:43):
So I was just waiting for basicallyErica to call one day and be like,
I have the feature. And thenI found out in COVID Lockdown summer
she had connected with me Shianolese alsothrough Sundance, and co wrote what became
Anti Dance. So when I readit, I always knew that the character

(12:05):
of Jacks, even though I didn'tknow that would be her name, I
knew that Jack's was going to bean Anti. I knew that she was
going to live in that same sortof resourceful you know, bending the rules
or breaking the law to feed thecommunity, to take care of people like.
I knew she would exist in thatsame pocket that Sharon did in Little
Chief. But when I read thescript, suddenly it was like, oh,

(12:28):
this is genre, this is likethis is an elevated story outside of
it's still very grounded in reality andfeels so lived in. But it's like
I would put it on the shelfbetween Thelma and Louise and Paper Moon.
It's just like it was the kindof narrative I as an actor could really
immerse in in a very natural way, but could also have some fun with

(12:50):
in a narrative way. And Iwas just so gut punched by how effective
the conversations of the Indian Child WelfareAct, removal of Indian kids from Native
families and missing murdered Indigenous relatives washad. Because both Michian and Erica come
from families and from communities that aredo have people who directly addressed those things,

(13:13):
they grew up knowing how to createa world where those conversations could just
exist where it wasn't being shoved downanyone's throat, where the audience fell in
love with these two characters and theirfamily and got invested and learns through the
obstacles the characters face, what theobstacles are that Indigenous people face, and
finding and protecting our own and holdingon to our kids and our families,

(13:35):
and like having access to you know, wealth, just the inequities in society
that we that we remain in spiteof. So yeah, I was all
there. I was already on board, and I was just so thrilled when
I've read the first draft and wasjust that was one hundred percent in.

(14:00):
I love it, and I lovehow it opens a world to Native and
Indigenous people of America, to somebodylike me who wouldn't know otherwise. And
you know this exists. You knowthese people are living and in our society
and the fabric of our society.And to me, that's what great cinema
does, you know, So thankyou both for sharing your gifts through Fancy

(14:22):
Dance. I can't wait for everybodyto see it. You muyl Isabelle de
Roy, I'll sin what a promisingtalent. I can't wait to see what
she does next. And she isamazing in Fancy Dance. And Lily Gladstone
such an amazing actor, such anamazing person, such an amazing film.

(14:43):
Fancy Dance is so good. Pleasego. If you're in a major market
that's playing it in the theaters,go see it. If not, watch
it at home the comfort of yourown home, exclusively on Apple TV Plus
as you know, I'm a hugeApple TV plus fan. They are prestige
movies, prestige television. They justdo work that is just above the rest.

(15:07):
So Fancy Dance is no exception,and to me it's an perfect example
of why you know they are cutabove the rest. All right, that's
the episode for now. Well,no, that's the episode. That's this
episode forever. But that's the endof the episode. I guess hit me
up on socials, let's talk fancydance or whatever, you know, whatever

(15:28):
you want to talk about in popculture. Some of your hate mail,
some of your love mail. I'mon all the socials. Head on over
to podcast dot popculturewekly dot com.You can get all the behind the scenes
stuff or get the blog posts atpopcultureweekly dot com. All right, I'll
see you next week. I loveyou well. Thank you for listening to
pop Culture Weekly. Here all thelatest at popcultureweekly dot com. Dancing Fancy

(16:02):
Heat Dancing, Fancy Heat Dancing NoNine Long Yet, Fancy Dance, Fancy
Fancy Dance, Fancy Dancing All nightLong Yet