Leonardo DiCaprio thanks First Nations in Golden Globe speech


YouTube: Golden Globes 2016 - Leonardo Dicaprio Acceptance Speech Winner Golden Globe Awards 2016

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio won a Golden Globe for his performance in The Revenant and offered up a bit of activism during his acceptance speech on Sunday night.

DiCaprio said he wanted to share the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama "with all the First Nations people represented in this film." The cast includes Isaiah Tootoosis, a member of the Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, and Forrest Goodluck, who is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Tootoosis, 8, and Goodluck, 18, portray the Pawnee son of DiCaprio's character in the film.

DiCaprio also used his speech to call for better treatment of Native peoples. According to news reports, he worked closely with Loren Yellow Bird, Sr., another Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation citizen, and Craig Falcon, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, to ensure the film was as accurate as possible in its depiction of life among tribes in the 1800s. Yellow Bird and Falcon served as cultural advisors on the set and helped teach lines in the Arikara language to DiCaprio.

"It is time that we recognize your history, and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests and people that are out there to exploit them," DiCaprio said of Native peoples. "It is time that we heard your voice and protected this planet for future generations."

Get the Story:
DiCaprio Shares Golden Globe for “Revenant” with First Nations People (Indian Country Today 1/11)
DiCaprio wins at Golden Globes, urges recognition of indigenous people and lands (CBC 1/11)
Arikara man was technical adviser for ‘The Revenant’ (AP / The Minot Daily News 1/10)
Unreserved: Smudging, sweat lodges and cultural accuracy: On set of The Revenant (CBC 1/10)
Meet the man who taught Leonardo DiCaprio to speak the Arikara language in The Revenant (APTN 1/7)
The True Story Behind The Revenant, as Told in 1939 (Time 1/7)
Bosque School senior stars in ‘The Revenant’ (The Albuquerque Journal 12/17)

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