She is the star of one of the most talked-about television shows of the year, Daisy Jones and the Six, and the granddaughter of Elvis.
However, actress Riley Keough claims that she "struggled" to secure funding for War Pony, the first movie she and British-Australian Gina Gammell co-directed.
The decision-makers may be making great efforts and there is a lot of talk, but she questions whether they are fully committed.
"I'm not sure if some people understand that women can hold powerful positions and be relied upon. ".
Two young Native American men are the subject of the story War Pony, which was shot on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Oglala Lakota's homeland in South Dakota, with a large local cast and first-time actors. The two men are trying to find their place in a world that doesn't offer them many opportunities.
It was awarded the Camera D'Or, the festival's prize for the best first-time feature film, at the Cannes Film Festival the previous year. Keough, however, questioned whether the movie would be finished at times.
With a completely native cast that, quote unquote, has "no value in terms of the marketplace and no movie stars," Keough says, "you have two females making their first feature.".
"Gina and I run a production company, and we frequently observe the disparity in funding between men and women, whether they are seasoned professionals or not. And it continues to be a problem. The situation was extremely depressing before we had wonderful financiers who came together, supported us, and understood the vision. ".
According to Gammell, "We'd be wrapping up a week of shooting and we'd be making calls to try and get the next week of shooting paid for.
"And we only just managed to get through it, so we were really lucky that we did. It was very challenging. ".
With an overall rating of 91 percent on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is now being released in the UK as well as other countries in Europe and the USA. Empire has praised the film as "restrained but promising stuff from Keough and Gammell, who exhibit strong world-building and lightness of touch in filmmaking.".
In January, Lisa Marie Presley, Keough's mother, passed away from a cardiac arrest at the age of 54, three years after Benjamin, Keough's brother, passed away. This was one of Keough's personal losses this year. In regards to Presley's estate, Keough and her grandmother Priscilla Presley came to an agreement in May.
She began acting as a teenager, landing her first significant part in the Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning-starring Joan Jett biopic The Runaways from 2010. She also had a role in the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road.
Daisy Jones & The Six, an adaptation of a book set in the 1970s LA music scene, has helped raise Keough's profile as an actress. However, she claims she has always wanted to direct and write as well.
I just got really lucky with acting, she claims. "I was inspired to keep going after I had success at my first audition. But if I had the chance to direct it when I was 18 years old, perhaps things would have turned out differently.
She continues, "I also enjoy writing.". If they don't have deadlines, I'll write for anyone who would have me. I tend to write in a somewhat stream-of-consciousness style. ".
American Honey, an independent movie directed by British filmmaker Andrea Arnold in which Keough starred, was being filmed when War Pony began. She met Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, two movie extras, while they were being used as extras in South Dakota.
Prior to the thought of making a movie, Keough and Gammell visited them at their residence on the Pine Ridge Reservation and grew close. The story of War Pony was co-written by Reddy and Sioux Bob, and it is based on their personal experiences.
Riley and I are, in my opinion, the tools that help them capture the story because they are the ones who are telling it here. Gammell notes that it is primarily their story.
In contrast to other creative endeavors suggested to Native Americans residing on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Franklin Sioux Bob thinks that this one was genuine.
"Like this situation, many things pass through our reservation, and they're mostly one-sided. This wasn't the case; they arrived, observed, took advantage of it, and then left. People will leave, but Riley and Gina made a point of coming back, keeping their word to us, and making a difference. These two are not just colleagues; they are my friends, he says.
While Native Americans are starting to appear more frequently in movies, this one is unique because, even when production on it began years ago, no one could have predicted that it would reach this point. ".
Keough criticizes War Pony for "the indigenous people of our country having to live like a capitalist," which he claims leads to the poverty and lack of opportunity that many people who reside on a reservation encounter.
They must adopt non-traditional lifestyles in order to blend in with their own nation, she claims.
The ability of these boys to be creative is one of the qualities Gina and I most admire. There aren't many employment opportunities, so in order to survive, they must be innovative, hardworking, and creative. Then there is just their fortitude and capacity to survive in this extremely traumatizing and chaotic way.
"You don't really know where indigenous people are in the country, what their life is like, unless you were raised in an area that is close to a reservation; you don't get this in school in America. It's really far away. And deliberately isolated. ".
Gammell continues, "I think what profoundly affects them is the broken ideals of that 'American Dream.'".
After War Pony, Keough and Gammell intend to work on a new project as directors, but "nothing yet has totally grabbed us," as she puts it.
"I think it needs to emotionally captivate us in the same way for us, the standard War Pony set, in terms of how much we care about who we collaborate with. I believe it would be difficult to reverse the profound collaboration we have had. ".
On June 9, 2023, War Pony has its UK and Irish premiere.
