For Christopher Côté, working in Hollywood was certainly never part of his plan, nor was finding himself at the center of a movie controversy. In early 2020, he was recruited to work on Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning film “Killers of the Flower Moon” as a consultant to help the cast master the Osage language for the screen.
When the movie premiered near the end of the Screen Actors Guild’s strike in October 2023, Côté ended up being one of the few members of the cast and crew who were able to attend the debut without breaking strike protocol. In a red carpet interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he offered an unflinchingly honest take about the film.
“As an Osage, I really wanted this to be from the perspective of Mollie and what her family experienced, but I think it would take an Osage to do that,” Côté said. “Martin Scorsese, not being Osage, I think he did a great job representing our people, but this history is being told almost from the perspective of Ernest Burkhart and they kind of give him this conscience and kind of depict that there’s love. But when somebody conspires to murder your entire family, that’s not love. That’s not love, that’s just beyond abuse.”
“I think in the end, the question that you can be left with is: How long will you be complacent with racism? How long will you go along with something and not say something, not speak up, how long will you be complacent?” he continued. “I think that’s because this film isn’t made for an Osage audience, it was made for everybody, not Osage. For those that have been disenfranchised, they can relate, but for other countries that have their acts and their history of oppression, this is an opportunity for them to ask themselves this question of morality, and that’s how I feel about this film.”
To his surprise, Côté’s criticism became fodder for sharp headlines. As Côté’s remarks made the rounds, he wasn’t the only Indigenous person to speak out. Janis Carpenter, another language consultant on the film, told THR she had “mixed feelings” about the movie while Mohawk actor…
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