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Killers of the Flower Moon is Martin Scorsese's latest film, four years after The Irishman was released on Netflix. It is a historical crime drama film from the house of Paramount Pictures and Apple Original Films. Eric Roth wrote the movie alongside Scorsese and takes inspiration from David Green's 2017 non-fiction book of the same name.
The film stars actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone in central roles, alongside Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, and others in pivotal supporting roles.
Killers of the Flower Moon premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in May, receiving a standing ovation from the audience and widespread acclaim. It was finally released in theaters on October 20, 2023, and has since done well on its box office run.
Keeping in mind the kind of success the film has been seeing over the last few weeks, this article is set to explore some of the most interesting little pieces of information from the sets of Killers of the Flower Moon.
Disclaimer: Major spoilers ahead.
7 interesting facts to know about Killers of the Flower Moon
1) DiCaprio ad-libbed one of the most memorable moments
Killers of the Flower Moon is a piece of filmmaking brilliance from the mind of Martin Scorsese. However, the entire credit of a well-done film doesn't go to the director alone but is also given to the actors and crew who bring the filmmaker's vision to life.
Like Martin Scorsese is a renowned filmmaker, Leonardo DiCaprio is a highly talented actor. He makes any character he portrays his own because of his experience and acting prowess. This is reflected in the film itself, with one of the most memorable scenes being ad-libbed by DiCaprio instead of Scorsese's direction, as was revealed by the latter to Vulture in an interview.
The moment comes in the scene where DiCaprio's Ernest Burkhart is seen driving Lily Gladstone's Mollie Kyle around town and talking to her about her previous romantic partner. When he tells her he is interested in her, Mollie replies in her native Osage tongue. Not knowing what she said, he quips back that it must have been Indian for "handsome devil."
2) Lily Gladstone did not have to audition
In the film, Lily Gladstone featured in the lead cast opposite DiCaprio and did so without even having to do an audition.
Scorsese had previously seen her work in Certain Women (2016) and was impressed by it. He was so impressed that he met with Gladstone once and offered her the part of Mollie Kyle without any need to audition. Interestingly, as per Screenrant, she was on the brink of quitting acting when she got asked for the role by Scorsese's team.
3) Killers of the Flower Moon is the first work to feature DiCaprio, Scorsese, and De Niro
During his long-spanning career of around 60 years, Scorsese has rolled out some fantastic titles. And one of the things that has often been a recurring aspect of his films was his cast.
Before the turn of the century, he had already featured Robert De Niro in over eight of his films. Starting as early as 1973, De Niro's first work with Scorsese was in Mean Streets, after which they made some of their most career-defining films together.
With his first film of the new century, Gangs of New York (2002), Scorsese met Leonardo DiCaprio, a brilliant young actor. Since then, the duo has made six feature films, including the latest Killers of the Flower Moon. Their collaborations have received acclaim from critics and audiences and have been career-defining movies for DiCaprio.
While Scorsese has played a significant role in establishing both De Niro and DiCaprio as premiere actors, all three had not worked together in a feature film before this. They did come together for a short comedy film in 2015 called The Audition, but not for a proper feature film like Killers of the Flower Moon.
4) Killers of the Flower Moon is a very accurate movie
For those unaware, Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a true story. The story is inspired by a series of murders of Osage Indian members in Oklahoma between the 1910s-30s. Since the story was very close to the Osage Native American people, they wished the film would be as accurate as possible.
Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear and Chad Renfro, the acting Osage ambassadors, ensured that the representation of the Osage tribe, alongside their culture and customs, was correctly shown. This also promoted job opportunities for Indian people who could come in to help with the cultural portrayal.
5) The lead cast is older than their characters
While we laud the film's accuracy and how much it abides by reality, one of the funny things is that the lead cast is much older than their character counterparts.
Greg Daugherty explored the reality of the whole incident of the Osage Indian Murders in an article on History.com. He delved into the life and story of the mastermind, William King Hale, the character played by Robert De Niro, and how he masterminded the murder spree to take over the oil wealth of the Indians.
From that article, we learn that King Hale was in his 40s and Ernest Burkhart was nearing his 30s during the 1920s occurrences. In contrast, Robert De Niro is 80, and Leonardo Di Caprio is 48, considerably older than the characters they portray.
6) The Federal Agent was supposed to be the protagonist
In David Grann's non-fiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the story was a bit different from which the film was adapted. Grann told the story from the perspective of the then newly formed investigative body, FBI, and the case they uncovered alongside the trial and conviction.
However, the film follows a different pathway. Eric Roth wrote the first script according to the storyline in the book, keeping the FBI and their agents in the center and the story unfolding from their perspective. However, it was rewritten later on and made to unfurl from within Osage County with Ernest Burkhart in the center.
7) Scorsese's last movie with Robbie Robertson
As we already know, Martin Scorsese likes to stick with cast members that he appreciates and sees potential in, like Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. However, many people might not have known that it goes beyond the cast and works for his crew members.
While Scorsese has worked with De Niro in eight films and DiCaprio in six films to date, he has worked alongside musician Robbie Robertson in over ten instances. The duo first worked together while Scorsese directed the documentary of Robertson's band, The Band's, 1976 Thanksgiving concert, The Last Waltz.
The duo has since worked on ten films, the latest Killers of the Flower Moon. Other than their longstanding collaboration, another thing that made Robertson's work in the film special was his Native Indian lineage.
Robertson died on August 9, 2023, making Killers of the Flower Moon his last work with Martin Scorsese. The film was dedicated to his memory on its theatrical release in October.
These tidbits from behind the scenes of Scorsese's latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon. If you have not watched the movie, catch the earliest show in your nearest theater. And if you're not a big theater-goer, you can wait until the film arrives on Apple TV+ soon.
