“Killers of the Flower Moon” is based on David Grann’s best-selling non-fiction book of the same name, with Scorsese directing in addition to co-writing the script with Eric Roth (“A Star is Born,” “Dune”). That makes it only the second film (after “Silence”) Scorsese has officially had a hand in writing over the last 25 years. “After a certain point, I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys,” Scorsese told Time recently. “Meaning I was taking the approach from the outside in, which concerned me.” This, combined with his meeting with the Osage Nation, led Scorsese and his crew to reframe the narrative around Ernest and Mollie’s love story. Amusingly, Scorsese also confirmed DiCaprio improvised Ernest’s flirtatious response to Mollie in the latest trailer (“I don’t know what you said, but it must’ve been Indian for handsome devil”).
Among those joining DiCaprio, De Niro, and Gladstone in the cast are Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser, providing us with an ample bounty of illustrious character actors in cowboy hats. That alone would’ve made “Killers of the Flower Moon” a must-see when it opens in theaters on October 20, 2023, prior to streaming on Apple TV+ sometime after.
