To get into features, filmmaker Erica Tremblay first made documentaries.
โI was so grateful to do that, but the whole while I was doing it, I wanted to make things up,โ she says. โI was like, โOh, itโd be much more interesting if this would happen.โโ
Making the leap wasnโt easy. Tremblay earned her stripes as a writer and director on โReservation Dogs,โ then pitched an original story for a feature.
Called โFancy Dance,โ it features a Native American woman searching for her sister.
The screenplay was singled out as โone to watchโ by film festivals and independent filmmaking groups. Written in 2020, it got funding and was ready to shoot in 2022 โ โthatโs a quick turnaround in Hollywood,โ Tremblay says.
But it really got a boost when Lily Gladstone, an actress Tremblay had worked with on a short subject, signed on. โI just knew from watching all of Lilyโs films how talented and wonderfully beautiful she was.โ
The two set out to make a small indie film and, in the process, Martin Scorseseโs โKillers of the Flower Moonโ showed up. Gladstone, the filmโs star, got more attention than co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and was whispered as a likely Best Actress Oscar nominee.
Before that happened, however, โFancy Danceโ 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 โFlower Moonโ gave other Native American-themed films a real boost and helped sell โFancy Danceโ to AppleTV+.
The halo effect has given Tremblay and others hope the interest will continue.
โSeeing Lily on all these red carpets, seeing the success of โReservation Dogsโ and Billy Lutherโs film (โFrybread Face and Meโ) popping off at all the festivalsโฆhave proven thereโs a huge appetite for these stories,โ Tremblay says. โI hope that Hollywood walks the walk and keeps the promises they say out loud about inclusion and diverse storytelling.โ
โReservation Dogs,โ 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. โThe story we set out to tell had been told. I think FX would have continued to make many seasons of that show but Iโm really grateful for my time there.โ
Among her highlights was a second-season episode in which Bear gets a job on a roofing crew. โSterlin said, โWipe your female gaze all over it,โโ Tremblay recalls. โI loved being on that room with those men telling that very poignant and sensitive version of Native masculinity.โ
The series also brought the New York-based director back to Oklahoma and introduced her to the crew she used on โFancy Dance.โ
Now, Tremblayโs eager to make more narrative films. The documentaries, she says, had their place. โThey invigorated my passion to be able to write for characters versus sitting and watching a character.โ
After a brief run in theaters, โFancy Danceโ will premiere on AppleTV+ June 28.