Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
Twenty years before Lily Gladstone received an Oscar nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon, she imagined herself winning an Oscar.
Ahead of awards season and following her award-winning role in the Martin Scorsese-directed film, a high school yearbook photo of Gladstone with the superlative “Most Likely to Win an Oscar” resurfaced and went viral.
In the photo, a young Gladstone and her classmate Josh Ryder were chosen as the two who would be recognized for their talent. As Gladstone gets closer and closer to achieving the superlative, Ryder has a few words for his former classmate.
“I don't think I necessarily had the ability to think or understand what it would take to put myself in a position to be nominated for an Oscar, and Lily did it,” Ryder said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “And it is extraordinary that she has done such high-caliber work and that she rightly receives recognition for it.”
Ryder said the high school photo of him and Gladstone reunited their former classmates, adding, “Everyone is so excited about it.”
If Gladstone wins the Oscar, Ryder says, “It would certainly be a storybook ending. And I mean, you know, maybe not the end. She's – we're not even 40 yet. If she stays in the game, maybe she can achieve something [Oscars].”
In an interview with USA Today, Gladstone said that her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio texted her the high school photo after her nomination was announced. Gladstone has also been in touch with Ryder, who has been a tremendous support to us throughout this awards season.
“He told me, 'I don't know if you know this, but all this greatness in your life has brought our whole class back together,'” Gladstone said. “They’re having an Oscar party. They had already planned for it to be at our old high school theater, so I’m glad I didn’t disappoint there.”
As a Native American actress, Gladstone made history with her nomination. In an interview with Deadline she said: “Why am I the first? Why did it take so long for me to become the first indigenous North American? Most of the films that appear in these categories are shot on indigenous lands in North America, and it took so long.”