Gladstone stars in summer release
A summer release schedule has been set for Oscar-nominated “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone’s next Oklahoma-made movie.
“Fancy Dance,” the feature film directorial debut from Native Oklahoman filmmaker Erica Tremblay, will be released in select theaters June 21.
The Native American family drama will start streaming June 28 on Apple TV+.
A historic Golden Globe and SAG Award winner for her powerful lead turn in Martin Scorsese’s fact-based epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Gladstone revealed the release dates and new poster for “Fancy Dance” Wednesday on social media. An Apple representative confirmed the release schedule to The Oklahoman.
Gladstone posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Been so excited for this day, and I have never been prouder or more excited to announce…well… just about anything!”
What is the Oklahoma-made film ‘Fancy Dance’ about?
In February, Apple Original Films announced that it had landed the global rights to “Fancy Dance,” which filmed in 2022 in Oklahoma. The independent film made its world premiere in January 2023 at the Sundance Film Festival.
“It’s exciting news. We’re very thrilled and relieved to finally be in this moment and to have the film have a perfect home and place in this world,” Tremblay told The Oklahoman by phone in February.
“I’m so grateful to Lily Gladstone’s generosity and all of her advocacy. We just kept pushing forward, and we knew that at some point, someone was going to recognize what we had and recognize the value of the film. We’re so thrilled that it was Apple. They have such an incredible relationship with Lily and saw the film and recognized its potential.”
Written by Tremblay and Miciana Alise, “Fancy Dance” stars Gladstone, who is NiMíiPuu, or Nez Perce, and Siksikaitsitapi, or Blackfeet, as Jax, a hustler scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga Reservation in Oklahoma. After her sister’s disappearance, Jax kidnaps her niece (Isabel Deroy-Olson) from the girl’s white grandparents and sets out for a powwow in an effort to keep what is left of her family intact.
“I read the script, and it was just an immediate ‘yes.’ She’s such a strong writer. She has such an impeccable voice that is delivered with such a light
touch. And that’s really hard to find in any filmmaker,” Gladstone told The Oklahoman in a 2023 interview.
Who is Oklahoma Indigenous filmmaker Erica Tremblay?
Born in Stillwater, Tremblay is a member of the Grove-based Seneca-Cayuga Nation, situated in the northeast corner of Oklahoma. Although she grew up three miles across the border in Seneca, Missouri, Oklahoma has proven vital to her in telling stories through her own films or on the acclaimed streaming series “Reservation Dogs.”
Tremblay, who has worked as a writer and executive story editor on “Reservation Dogs” as well as the hit show “Dark Winds,” filmed “Fancy Dance” in her native state, where it was one of the first recipients of the Cherokee Nation Film Incentive that launched in early 2022.
Years before Gladstone was cast in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Tremblay was the first filmmaker to bring the Oscar nominee to Oklahoma. Gladstone starred in Tremblay’s breakout short film “Little Chief,” which had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
The filmmaker and actor reunited for “Fancy Dance,” which was accepted into the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs in 2021. Along with the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the feature played many other fests last year, including BFI London, NewFest: New York’s LGBT Film Festival and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
The movie won best Indigenous feature and best narrative feature at Oklahoma City’s 2023 deadCenter Film Festival, where Tremblay also was named an Oklahoma Film Icon Award winner.
Plus, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle awarded “Fancy Dance” a Special Citation for Achievement in Oklahoma Independent Filmmaking in its 2023 year-end best-of awards.
Erica Tremblay was the first filmmaker to bring Lily Gladstone to Oklahoma.