Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese’s upcoming crime-thriller ensemble, is heading to the Cannes Film Festival premiere before a worldwide theatrical release later this year. Starring the director’s long-time collaborators,Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, the film has been highly anticipated since its announcement.
Based on David Grann’s non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the film traverses the murders of members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s and the subsequent investigation that gave rise to America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation.
With Scorsese directing, the film is undoubtedly an amazing venture. Now, the book’s author David Grann has confirmed as much. Grann has been actively involved in the film’s production and has worked with Scorsese to ensure that the authenticity of the Osage Nation’s culture and the impact of the killings on the tribe is depicted correctly in the film. He even helped the producers partner with Osage Nation for the film’s righteous research and production.
In his interview with Variety, Grann reflected on the involvement of Osage members in the film and the producers’ committed partnership with those ambassadors, which, in Grann’s opinion, enriched the film exponentially.
“One of the things that were really most impressive and important in the development process was less my involvement, but the involvement of members of the Osage Nation. And early on, the Osage chief, Geoffrey Standing Bear, appointed several movie ambassadors from the Nation and from the government to work with the movie folks. From everything I’ve heard, they really worked with a commitment to working with the Osage Nation, developing a story, and even shooting on location. Many Osage are actually acting in the movie.”
In the film, while Robert De Niro takes on the antagonistic role of William Hale, Jesse Plemons leads the ensemble as Texas Ranger Tom White. Both characters are based on real-life figures, who respectively were the culprit and law enforcement officer associated with the actual case. Besides the two, plenty of other actors play real-life figures or characters inspired by the people who lived during the killings in Osage.
Grann says he was very impressed that Scorsese and the actors brought these figures to life with much accuracy while respecting their nature and emotions.
“I did visit the set for a few days. And I was, again, just really impressed by how they managed to bring these historical figures to life and capture the hidden truths about the story. Leo just seemed to just be able to capture the nature of Ernest Burkhart, the level of complicity of his character, and this evil system. And Lily Gladstone brings Mollie to life with such sensitivity and emotional power, at least in the bits I saw.”
Interestingly, Leonardo DiCaprio left the lead part and gave it to Jesse Plemons before taking on the role of Burkhart. Along with Lily Gladstone, the film stars Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, and John Lithgow.
Grann also praised Scorsese for researching beyond the novel and understanding the most profound aspects of that history. Grann is in awe of Scorsese’s direction and the effort he and his team made to research the most minute details to visualize the novel’s events properly.
“What I was struck by from Scorsese to the actors was the level of commitment and how much research they did to understand the parts and understand the history. They just seemed voracious, a little bit like historians, in their search for any knowledge, transcripts, documents, speaking to descendants, speaking with members of the Osage Nation.”
Offering further details about the film, Grann said there are dialogues in the Osage language and praised the team behind the movie for successfully bringing in language experts to empower the portrayal of the Osage tribes in the film.
“The film had Osage-language experts working with the actors to make sure they were able to teach them the language and that they got the language right, technically. I saw a scene where many of the tribal council members of the Osage Nation were speaking, and I think they contributed to a lot of that dialogue themselves. I think anyone who sees that will find it bracing and breathtaking and powerful.”
Killers of the Flower Moon will have a theatrical release on October 6, followed by a streaming release on Apple TV Plus. The film is reportedly four hours long, making it a long-running, enthralling, and exciting Scorsese experience for the viewers.