PAWHUSKA — Sitting on a bench across the street from the cowboy museum of Oscar-winning actor Ben Johnson, Harrison Shackelford contemplated the cinematic history-in-the-making that will hit even closer to home for him.
Less than two blocks away, Kihekah Avenue was showing signs on a recent spring afternoon of the major transformation it's been undergoing since filming began in April on Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon."
"I think about it both ways. It was a bad time — a real bad time — for the Osage ... and I think this movie is going to bring back a lot of old, bad memories. But it's going to bring back some stuff that needed to be talked about, that needs to be said, that some people know and some people don't know. And I think it's going to be good," said Shackelford, who is Osage.
Movies: Pawhuska gets a vintage makeover for 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
Although the production of Scorsese's star-studded, reportedly $200 million movie has brought excitement to Osage County — the recreation of local landmarks from bygone days as facades and set pieces, the glimpses of stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Native American actress Lily Gladstone in period garb, the spreading of dirt on the part of Kihekah Avenue that has been transformed to resemble 1920s Fairfax — the real-life history behind the film is tragic and traumatic for the Osage people.
And that means many Osage Nation citizens have mixed feelings about the Apple Studios epic, which is believed to be the biggest movie production ever launched in Oklahoma.
"It's definitely something that is delicate. ... It's a delicate balance that, no matter what, it's going to hurt some. And others are going to cheer it on," said Brandy Lemon, a member of the Osage Nation Congress working as a liaison on the film.
"If anybody knows anything about Martin Scorsese, they're going to get everything in this film. They're going to get drama, they're going to get violence in some form, they're going to get anguish, they're going to get happiness, all the big feelings."
'Should not be forgotten'
Calling it "a time in American history that should not be forgotten," Scorsese is adapting David Grann's 2017 best-seller “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI." His film will chronicle the slayings of Osage Nation citizens in 1920s Oklahoma, after an oil boom made them the richest people per capita in the world.
"To be able to tell this story on the land where these events took place is incredibly important and critical to allowing us to portray an accurate depiction of the time and people," Scorsese said in an April announcement that the pandemic-delayed project had started filming.
Between 1920 and 1925, there were more than 60 mysterious or unsolved murders in Osage County, all connected with wealthy Osage citizens who had shares of valuable mineral lease royalties. The killings became known as the "Reign of Terror" and led to an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (the precursor to the FBI).
"My biggest takeaway, in the case of 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and the murders that it covers, is the subhuman way that Native Americans were treated — not just that they were murdered, but that it wasn't even hardly viewed as a crime that they were murdered," said Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who is Osage.
"The perpetrators were allowed by local and state authorities to basically get away with it. It required federal intervention for anyone to really be held accountable."
More: Martin Scorsese movie 'Killers of the Flower Moon' delves into tragic Osage tribal history
'People got away scot-free'
Holt is among the Osage citizens who noted the similarities between the Reign of Terror and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which is having its centennial commemorated this year. Both happened in Oklahoma at roughly the same time but were hidden history until recently. Both were episodes of violence fueled by a poisonous blend of jealousy, greed and racism.
And in both cases, justice was often elusive.
"I feel like there's a parallel," said Danette Daniels, the Osage owner of Pawhuska's Water Bird Gallery. "I'm such a promoter of the book by David Grann and of the movie. And it really is retribution, in a sense, by the world now knowing — because a lot these people got away scot-free with murders."
Along with beaded jewelry, Pendleton blankets and painted skulls, Daniels sells signed copies of Grann's best-seller in her gallery.
"With the Ree Drummond empire here in Pawhuska, I have people from all over the country and internationally come in, and they know nothing about it. Nothing. That's why I'm such a giant proponent that this history be told," said Daniels, a Fairfax resident.
"If you don't know your history, it can be repeated."
'There's plenty of work to be done'
For a vast swath of prairie dotted with small towns, rural hamlets and large ranches, Osage County is experienced at dealing with Hollywood. A Food Network star, Drummond has been lensing her show "The Pioneer Woman" on her family's Pawhuska ranch since 2011, spinning off a series of businesses that bring droves of tourists to town.
In 2012, the Academy Award-nominated movie version of Tulsa native Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play "August: Osage County" filmed in the titular location. And the museum memorializing Johnson — a native of the present-day ghost town of Foraker who won an Oscar for 1971's "The Last Picture Show" — opened in Pawhuska in 2019.
"That brings people here. ... and they're coming here for Ree Drummond. But now they're coming here for this (movie), too," Shackelford said.
"They're doing a lot of stuff that's helping the town and they've provided a lot of jobs. ... There's plenty of work to be done."
Construction projects are scattered across the county for Scorsese's big-budget epic, with workers laboring to craft replicas of the local train station, Catholic church and numerous businesses from the movie's era. The production trucked in a steam engine from Nevada to place on the train tracks its crews laid down and hauled in a fleet of 1920 cars after training people to drive them.
'A little bit of Hollywood in it'
Since the last picture show to depict the Reign of Terror was the 1959 Jimmy Stewart vehicle "The FBI Story," which played loose with the facts and crammed the Osage history between tales of gangsters and spies, Billie Ponca said she is pleased to see a major movie putting such care into sharing her tribe's story.
"I think it needs to be told ... and I know for a fact that they have reached out to a lot of people. I just can't imagine it not being a success. I can't imagine it not being told in the right way. I'm sure there might be a little bit of Hollywood in it. ... But other than that, I think it will be very factual," said Ponca, the former site manager of the White Hair Memorial near Hominy who now works at the Water Bird Gallery.
"And I don't know that you get any better than Martin Scorsese."
In addition to respecting the Oscar winner's storytelling prowess, several members of the Osage Nation said they appreciate his efforts to ensure the film authentically portrays their tribe.
Chief Geoffrey M. Standing Bear named Chad Renfro the tribe's ambassador to the production, but the filmmakers are working with several cultural consultants, local artisans and Osage Nation citizens.
Daniels said she was impressed when she met Scorsese at a 2019 dinner prepared by the Osage Gray Horse community.
"I was selected as one of the speakers to get up and to express concerns about the feature film and how we'd be depicted and just to tell him and his crew who we are as people," she said. "Three hundred of us from Gray Horse lined up in a big community building ... and he shook all of our hands."
The director seemed touched by the food and gifts he received at the pre-COVID-19 gathering, she said.
"He struck me and most of the people as a very sincere person who wants to get this right and do right by us. But I also know this is not a documentary and I also know he's an artist," Daniels said. "There's other Osages that are very skeptical ... but at least we've had input into the process."
'You can't please all the people'
Apple Studios recently released through the Osage News a first-look image from "Killers of the Flower Moon" depicting Gladstone, who is Blackfeet and Nez Perce, as Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman whose family was targeted in the Reign of Terror, sitting in a formal dining room beside DiCaprio, who is portraying Mollie's treacherous husband, Ernest Burkhart.
On social media, some Osage people were thrilled to see the table set with traditional grape dumplings in beloved red Spode dishes. But others were concerned about the Pendleton blanket draped around Mollie's shoulders.
"I have made clothes for that character, Mollie ... and I thought, 'She had that blanket wrong,' her wearing that fringe on the outside of it, on her shoulders," said Renae Brumley, an Osage artisan who has worked with the production.
"But you can't please all the people all the time. ... My niece said, 'You're all just lucky they didn't just take it and do what they wanted to do on a lot somewhere else and didn't ask your opinion.'"
'We're going to see some truth now'
The current site manager of the White Hair Memorial, an Oklahoma Historical Society site that serves as a repository for Osage maps, documents and textiles, Brumley said the history of the 1920s murders gets complicated, especially since so many of the killers and victims were linked by marital, family or community ties.
Although they happened a century ago, Grann said he stills considers the slayings "living history."
"This is one of the worst racial injustices and criminal conspiracies in American history. ... People were swindled out of hundreds of millions of dollars, they lost loved ones, they lost children," Grann told The Oklahoman in a 2020 interview.
"I tracked down descendants of both the victims and the murderers. And many of them still live in the same neighborhoods, side by side."
In downtown Pawhuska, Shackelford said he has become involved in the movie since he answered one of its casting calls, although he couldn't discuss specifics.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity) no matter what, so I'm excited for myself and for my family. ... And we're going to see some truth now. And some people are not going to like it," he said.
"They wanted to hold the Osage back and they did — they murdered them. As simple as it could be. There's no telling what we could have had if that didn't happen. No telling how we could be now."
The Link LonkMay 23, 2021 at 06:06PM
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/2021/05/23/osage-people-confront-traumatic-history-behind-killers-flower-moon-movie/7386143002/
Complicated story behind 'Killers of the Flower Moon' needs to be told, some Osage people say - Oklahoman.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment