Lily Gladstone And Leonardo DiCaprio Developed A Strong Bond Working Together

A legendary win at the 2024 Golden Globes was Lily Gladstone taking home the award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama for her role in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon." According to Deadline, Gladstone was the first Indigenous woman to earn that award. In the movie, which is based on the Osage murders and David Grann's book on the subject, Gladstone played Mollie Burkhart. Her co-star in the movie was Leonardo DiCaprio, and she had nothing but positive things to say about him after the awards show.

While speaking with Extra TV following her win, Gladstone talked about her and DiCaprio's friendship and how it borders on familial (unlike his surprising friendship with Tobey Maguire, which historically was party-oriented). "Leo's been incredible," Gladstone said. "I mean, I'm an only child, but I always kind of imagined this is what it would feel like to have a big brother, you know? He teases me, he encourages me." She even said DiCaprio seemed more anxious at the Golden Globes waiting for the award Gladstone was nominated for to be announced. 

Gladstone told the outlet, "He told me either way, he's proud of me, whatever the outcome." She also said that DiCaprio began talking about her winning very early into shooting the movie. "He has full permission to start teasing me about it again," Gladstone added.

When Lily Gladstone was announced a winner at the 2024 Golden Globes, she hugged Leonardo DiCaprio first (via YouTube). During her acceptance speech, Gladstone spoke the Blackfeet language to begin. Later in the speech, she commended DiCaprio and some others who worked on the movie, saying, "You are all changing things. Thank you for being such allies."

In November 2023, DiCaprio raved about Gladstone at Variety's Power of Women event. He said she was a "wise, kind, and humble soul. A tremendous talent, an incredibly important voice of change." They both shared positive sentiments in their joint interview with The Guardian. The co-stars talked about "Killers of the Flower Moon" and the public's reactions to it, amongst other things. Each actor also shared a compliment for their co-star. Gladstone said she'd said this about DiCaprio before and that it was a high compliment: "He's such a nerd! He gets so invested in everything he cares about. And he cares so deeply. He is humble about it, but it's intriguing and awesome to see how excited and invested he gets in things."

DiCaprio's answer was just as sweet: "There's a lot of things that I could say, but I think she's a good person. I notice small things in people, and look, she does a lot of amazing activism. ... But I always watch the little things and she's consistently an incredibly gracious and nice person to everybody."

Although Leonardo DiCaprio tries to live a normal lifestyle, no one can forget that he's incredibly famous. Before they became collaborators and friends, a younger version of Lily Gladstone was even a big fan of one of his most popular movies. DiCaprio had the role of Jack in "Titanic," although the role was almost played by a different actor.

"It was one of the first things I spent my allowance on. I pre-ordered the double VHS set from Toys 'R' Us when that was still around," Gladstone said of the film. However, DiCaprio wasn't the main draw for her. She continued, "I loved that movie for the film and for Kate Winslet. Leo was great in it because Jack Dawson was great."

His earlier movies are what made Gladstone a DiCaprio fan. Of the films she mentioned to People, one that she liked was "The Man in the Iron Mask," where DiCaprio plays two parts. "I already knew at that point I wanted to be an actor," Gladstone said, "and getting to see one actor play that kind of duality, it was really cool." The Golden Globe winner also told the outlet that she and DiCaprio were able to meet up and bond some before filming started for "Killers of the Flower Moon." Due to their strong friendship, it wouldn't be surprising if they worked together again.