PAWHUSKA, Okla. — Killers of The Flower Moon's film production survived the pandemic to tell the story of those who did not survive the Osage Reign of Terror, and its effect is still felt strongly in Osage County.
“When they were here in town, the economic impact was amazing. They spent (millions) in the whole Osage county area,” Trigger's BBQ owner Chris Kincaid said.
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Kincaid's restaurant stood as the Fairfax train station in the film. He also considers himself lucky to have played an extra.
“The Osage people are very happy the story is out. At least, my friends have told me that," he said. "And they are just glad the story is out there. They don’t want the big fanfare, but they just wanted the story out.”
The film grossed more than $157 million in box office revenue worldwide and was nominated for ten Academy Awards.
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Asa Concha co-owns Saucy Calf Native American restaurant, named for her great-great-grandfather, an Osage chief. She got to cook cultural favorites for much of the Killers of The Flower Moon cast and crew.
Concha considers herself lucky for a very different reason: Her family was not covertly murdered during the killings.
“To my knowledge, we didn’t have no actual family members that was part of that, although my grandmother was born in 1901," Concha said. "She had seen what was happening back then.”
Concha added she has a headright to a share of oil revenue extracted from Osage land, which is what white conspirators murdered dozens of Wahzhazhe people for all those years ago before the FBI made arrests.
The Osage Nation marked the movie's one year anniversary to advocate changes to headright laws in Washington that would guarantee control back to its estimate of 25% of Osage headrights not controlled by Osage individuals.
Kincaid agrees with the sentiment and suggests the lessons from the movie speak for themselves.
"I do know the Osage Nation Congress is trying to work on that," he said. "And trying to get non-Osage people behind it as well to sign a petition to show everybody we are behind it, to get their headrights back into the Osage Nation's hands, where they should be."
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