For several years, Martin Scorsese tried to make Killers of the Flower Moon. The book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, was released in 2017, and the film adaptation was delayed because of the pandemic, but the delay ended up working in everyone’s favor. The script went through several rewrites, and Martin Scorsese used the delay to refocus and center the story on the Osage people. The film was done with a lot of support from and respect for the Osage. People have been dying to see the film, and it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend. I’m including photos from the premiere and photocall, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Robert DeNiro and Marty Scorsese.
While Leo’s name was probably the biggest reason why the film was greenlit, it definitely seems that the script centers the story more on Lily Gladstone’s character, Mollie Burkhart. Mollie is married to Leo’s character, Ernest Burkhart. The film also stars Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, Jack White and several Native American actors. The film cost $200 million to make, it’s three-and-a-half hours long and it will stream on AppleTV, as well as getting a theatrical release.
Lily Gladstone is Native American as well, she has Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage and she grew up on a Blackfeet Nation reservation. She was struggling to find acting work during the pandemic, to the point where she was registering for a data analytics course to get seasonal work with the Department of Agriculture to study murder hornets. Then Scorsese contacted her and asked her to do a Zoom audition for the role. Critics at Cannes say that she’s one of the best parts of an excellent film, and she got the loudest applause during the nine-minute standing ovation in Cannes. I’m including the trailer below, it was just released last week, ahead of the premiere.
Lily Gladstone at the ‘KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON’ world premiere. #Cannes2023 pic.twitter.com/WbEkjUL8i9
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) May 20, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Janae Collins, Cara Jade Myers, Robert De Niro, Director Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tantoo Cardinal and Jillian Dio attend the “Killers Of The Flower Moon” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2023 in Cannes, France.,Image: 777749034, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- William Belleau – Leonardo DiCaprio – Tantoo Cardinal – Martin Scorsese – Robert De Niro – Cara Jade Myers – Lily Gladstone – Tatanka Means,Image: 777749956, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Norbert Scanella / Panoramic / Avalon
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- Lily Gladstone – Leonardo DiCaprio,Image: 777750381, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Norbert Scanella / Panoramic / Avalon
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- Janae Collins, Cara Jade Myers, Robert De Niro, Director Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tantoo Cardinal and Jillian Dion attend the “Killers Of The Flower Moon” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2023 in Cannes, France.,Image: 777753212, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- Leonardo DiCaprio photographed during the red carpet for the World Premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon as part of the 76th Cannes International Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France on 20 May 2023.,Image: 777757027, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons photographed during the red carpet for the World Premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon as part of the 76th Cannes International Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France on 20 May 2023.,Image: 777758532, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Leonardo DiCaprio – Killers of the Flower Moon premiere – 76eme Festival International du Film de Canne, Cannes FRANCE.,Image: 777773356, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Urman / Panoramic / Panoramic / Avalon
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- Robert De Niro, Director Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio attend the “Killers Of The Flower Moon” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2023 in Cannes, France.,Image: 777908800, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- Robert De Niro, Director Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio attend the “Killers Of The Flower Moon” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2023 in Cannes, France.,Image: 777909567, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
I loved this book and really want to see the movie.
But……3.5 hours??!!?!?! good lord Scorsese. It’s okay sometimes for a movie to be a normal length. Or to do a limited series or a mini series or whatever.
Thelma Schoonmaker is one of the best editors in the game and Scorsese’s go to.
If it’s 3.5, it’s gonna be a good 3.5.
I mean Scorsese is a fantastic director, but I maintain that 3.5 hours is too long and is going to be a big turnoff for a lot of people, even with being on streaming.
3 and 1/2 hours, gonna need to wait for it to hit streaming.
No way will I sit in a movie theater for that amount of time.
Not even Marty S. can get me to endure that.
That’s a huge cast. Love the story about Lily Gladstone being cast. Leo seems to have arrested development but he really picks well as far as scripts go. This looks great, hope it lives up to the hype.
Excited about seeing this but will have partner promise to whisper what I missed on a bathroom break.
Loved this book. 🎉 YAY Lily Gladstone
All of (non-GOP-cult) Montana is THRILLED for Lily Gladstone. I met her years ago after she did Winter in the Blood and she’s so smart and funny and has done a lot of cultural work on our reservations … She’s a beautiful BEAUTIFUL actor. She’s giving (non-GOP-cult) Montana such joy at a time when we really really need it.
I hope this brings her tons more work. She’s brilliant.
I bet all it takes to get any project a Go! is having Leo signed on.
He has a history of making good films.
I don’t care about his personal life.
Gangs of New York.
The Aviator.
Wolf of Wall Street. I can watch WoWS all day for Leo.
D’Jango.
I agree, HeyKay, don’t care about his personal life at all; the man is a good actor and stars in excellent films. I’m watching this one in the theater. Don’t know how long Scorsese will still be making movies.
He won the Oscar for the wrong film. He totally should have beat Mattew McConnoheyheyhey for Wolf of Wall Street.
That performance was his all around best to date.
I didn’t see the movie Leo won the Oscar for, but I believe he should have won for Catch Me If You Can.
The book is wonderful and the story is heartbreaking. I’ll watch on streaming where I can pause and don’t have to sit through the whole 3.5 hours in one go, but I definitely want to see this.
It’s getting excellent reviews, a few calling it his best film in 30 years. I would see it just for the cinematography of the great Rodrigo Prieto.
I loved the book. I’m going to re-read it this week.
Movie history is rife where Native American character roles were given to non-Native American actors.
I’m glad to see Lily Gladstone, a Native American, earned, and was cast in the lead role of Mollie Burkhart.
I look forward to seeing the movie.
I am looking forward to this. One of my favorite movies is Thunderheart (co-produced by Robert De Niro) which is loosely based on an incident in 1973 at Wounded Knee. There are so many stories about the Native American experience that need to be told.
I read that the Osage have said that Scorsese has helped to build some trust with this movie. It must be pretty darned accurate to illicit such a statement. This will be very good.
The book was so powerful and with the additional input from the Osage on the film, I can’t wait to see it. It is getting good reviews from Indigenous outlets (and Osage folks). October is so far off!