North Country Inspiration: Local actor on the big screen

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - “Killers of the Flower Moon” directed by Martin Scorsese has been a hit at the movie theaters.

If you’ve seen the film, you may recognize the woman who plays Vera, because she happens to be a north country native.

“I spent half my life in Watertown,” she said.

Norma Jean got started in acting at the Watertown Little Theatre as a teen.

“I remember the director telling me, ‘You don’t think you know what you’re doing, but you know what you’re doing,’” she said. “And I ran with that.”

She eventually moved to California to pursue her dreams of acting, picking up roles in theater and film, eventually landing her in the right audition for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

“Martin Scorsese is my favorite director of all time,” she said, “so I was elated and so nervous.”

The movie is based on a true story from Oklahoma in the 1920s, when greedy white men started killing Native Americans from the Osage Nation for their oil rights. Vera is the housekeeper to the main characters, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.

“They bring me to set the first day and I knew I was going to be meeting Leo and Lily and Mr. Scorsese,” she said. “Of course, it’s intimidating at first, but each one of us has the same Screen Actors Guild card in our packet — we’re all actors.”

The movie has been a long time in the making. Norma Jean spent five months filming in Oklahoma in 2021.

“It really helped the character development as well because we were all immersed in that land where it all really happened and immersed in the people and that’s what pulled at my heartstrings,” she said.

She says growing up in the north country was just the beginning of this path, which has aligned her with some of the greatest movie stars of our time.

“I’m 56 now, I was 54 when I got the role,” she said. “I never gave up and I was never willing to give up. You’ve got to have that tenacity in everything you do and that’s the message, kids.”

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