To get into features, filmmaker Erica Tremblay first made documentaries.
βI was so grateful to do that, but the whole while I was doing it, I wanted to make things up,β she says. βI was like, βOh, itβd be much more interesting if this would happen.ββ
Making the leap wasnβt easy. Tremblay earned her stripes as a writer and director on βReservation Dogs,β then pitched an original story for a feature.
Called βFancy Dance,β it features a Native American woman searching for her sister.
The screenplay was singled out as βone to watchβ by film festivals and independent filmmaking groups. Written in 2020, it got funding and was ready to shoot in 2022 β βthatβs a quick turnaround in Hollywood,β Tremblay says.
But it really got a boost when Lily Gladstone, an actress Tremblay had worked with on a short subject, signed on. βI just knew from watching all of Lilyβs films how talented and wonderfully beautiful she was.β
The two set out to make a small indie film and, in the process, Martin Scorseseβs βKillers of the Flower Moonβ showed up. Gladstone, the filmβs star, got more attention than co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and was whispered as a likely Best Actress Oscar nominee.
Before that happened, however, βFancy Danceβ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20, 2023. It drew raves and afforded Gladstone a one-two punch in the film world.
Her success in βFlower Moonβ gave other Native American-themed films a real boost and helped sell βFancy Danceβ to AppleTV+.
The halo effect has given Tremblay and others hope the interest will continue.
βSeeing Lily on all these red carpets, seeing the success of βReservation Dogsβ and Billy Lutherβs film (βFrybread Face and Meβ) popping off at all the festivalsβ¦have proven thereβs a huge appetite for these stories,β Tremblay says. βI hope that Hollywood walks the walk and keeps the promises they say out loud about inclusion and diverse storytelling.β
βReservation Dogs,β a series created by Sterlin Harjo, certainly made a big splash on television. Tremblay wrote and directed several episodes of the acclaimed FX series. Even though it had a strong following, Harjo wanted to move on to other things, she says. βThe story we set out to tell had been told. I think FX would have continued to make many seasons of that show but Iβm really grateful for my time there.β
Among her highlights was a second-season episode in which Bear gets a job on a roofing crew. βSterlin said, βWipe your female gaze all over it,ββ Tremblay recalls. βI loved being on that room with those men telling that very poignant and sensitive version of Native masculinity.β
The series also brought the New York-based director back to Oklahoma and introduced her to the crew she used on βFancy Dance.β
Now, Tremblayβs eager to make more narrative films. The documentaries, she says, had their place. βThey invigorated my passion to be able to write for characters versus sitting and watching a character.β
After a brief run in theaters, βFancy Danceβ will premiere on AppleTV+ June 28.