Get ready for Martin Scorsese’s big comeback! The legendary filmmaker returns in October with Killers of the Flower Moon, a historical fresco worn by DiCaprio and De Niro. We tell you everything about the film before its release this fall.
THE RETURN OF SCORSESE ON THE BIG SCREEN!
Eight long years! That’s how long it took to see a new Martin Scorsese movie on the big screen! His last feature film released in cinemas dates back to 2016 with Silence, a poignant drama around religion with Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver.
In 2019, Scorsese returned with The Irishman, a monumental fresco exploring the journey of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) and Frank Sheeran (De Niro). Produced by Netlflix, the work was not released in theaters in France. She landed directly on the streaming platform.
His new work, Killers of the Flower Moon, almost suffered the same fate. Funded in part by Apple Studios, the film almost landed only on Apple TV+. Fortunately, Paramount took things in hand, distributing the film in dark rooms.
PLOT: WHAT WILL KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON ABOUT?
Inspired by real events and adapted from the book of the same name by David Grann, published in 2017, this 3h26 western highlights a dark part – known but little treated and told – of American history: the series of murders of the native Osage tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s.
This community had made a fortune thanks to the oil present under its land. But this wealth was the envy of white Americans. They have, for some, plotted to steal their properties and lands, but also to kill them ruthlessly.
How ? Through interest marriages between Amerindian women and profiteers who will thus be able to obtain the lucrative “headrights”, rights paid to Amerindians for the use of their land, used for the exploitation of oil.
By throwing himself body and soul into the making of his western, Martin Scorsese slips a clear political intention and emphasizes one of the greatest injustices and criminal conspiracies of America, which has rotted its heart and its History. More in shape than ever, the one nicknamed Marty filmed his historical fresco between April and September 2021, a river shoot of more than 7 months.
Note that Scorsese notably took advantage of the confinements of 2020 to develop the script for the film, a negative period that he managed to make beneficial in terms of work and creation.
“I had to find a way to recapture a singular creative impulse like the one I had for Irishman. The isolation has been very good for me, if a little infuriating at times. I have a soundproof room in my house; I was kind of locked in it for months. It was kind of like in my movie, Airmanwhere Howard Hughes lives in the screening room”joked the director
WHO IS IT WITH?
Killers of the Flower Moon brings together Scorsese’s two favorite actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Leo plays Ernest Burkhart, the husband of an Osage, interpreted by the revelation Lily Gladstone.
He is also the nephew of William Hale (De Niro), a wealthy cattle rancher suspected of involvement in the murders. The FBI agent in charge of the investigation is, meanwhile, played by Jesse Plemons. Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow are also in the game. In addition, a large part of the cast is made up of Native Americans.
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DiCaprio enjoyed shooting the film a lot, as he said last May at the Cannes Film Festival. “It was an extraordinary moment. I have mental images of it that I will never forget. We are very proud to have been able to tell this story in this way and very happy to have been able to present the film with representatives of the Osage community.”
Always in the register of the emotion, DiCaprio evoked in front of the press all that he owed to Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. “I can only speak from my personal point of view. I grew up with Martin and Robert’s cinema. It’s something that influenced my acting. They reached a very high level in terms of Not only did their talent transform me, but it also served as a model for me, but also for a whole generation of actors.”
Leo also made a real declaration of love to “Marty”, with whom he has now collaborated seven times. “What can I say…”he timidly began. “He is someone who is endowed with great perseverance. He always wants, with ferocity, to point out the truth, whether it is ugly, bizarre or uncomfortable. That is where all his art lies.”
And the Hollywood star concludes: “Martin has great respect for the history of cinema, for everything that has been done before him, for all the great directors of the past who made him become the director he is. He continues to make films that contain very important stories, as is the case with Killers of the Flower Moon. I personally admire and wish that he continues to point out the truth through the prism of characters and films.”
WHEN IS IT COMING OUT? WHERE CAN WE SEE THE FILM?
The film will be released in France on October 18, 2023. It will be available some time later on the Apple TV+ platform. Note that Killers of the Flower was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
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Lily Gladstone and Martin Scorsese
The press praised “a vertiginous criminal fresco, located somewhere between the western, the film noir and the tragedy of antiquity.” “Exceptional” Or “Epic”, Cannes was literally on fire for Scorsese’s western. With a budget of 200 million dollars, the work promises to be THE big cinema event for the end of 2023.