Killers Of The Flower Moon Footage Reaction: Martin Scorsese And Leonardo DiCaprio Are Back With A Crime Epic [CinemaCon 2023]
Martin Scorsese fans, rejoice: we've finally gotten a proper first look at "Killers of the Flower Moon," and can stop poring over that single production still that's been keeping us enraptured for two full years now. Scorsese's latest epic is said to be clocking in at well over 3 hours long, and CinemaCon audiences got to watch a tiny fraction of that impressive runtime today as the first footage from the film was finally revealed.
The latest film from the beloved director is an adaptation of David Grann's 2017 nonfiction book, which lays out an FBI investigation involving the oil industry-related murders of wealthy members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s. Frequent Scorsese collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star alongside Lily Gladstone, a fantastic actress whose major breakout came in 2016 with Kelly Reichardt's "Certain Women." While Gladstone has done great work since in movies like "First Cow" and "Fancy Dance," I can't wait to see what she does in a classic Scorsese joint.
The rest of the "Killers of the Flower Moon" cast isn't anything to sneeze about, either: Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow, and Tantoo Cardinal also star. The film is set for a world premiere at Cannes later this year, but CinemaCon attendees including /Film's Ben Pearson got a first look today. Here's what they saw.
Scorsese's latest is a 1920s true crime story
The teaser shown at CinemaCon begins with Leonardo DiCaprio's Ernest Burkhart and Lily Gladstone's Mollie Kyle, a wealthy member of the Osage Nation, inside a dark and gloomy cabin in the rain. "You've got nice-colored skin," he creepily informs his future wife. The premise of the film follows the indigenous Osage people who were resettled on the worst possible land available ... until they discovered precious oil reserves within their territory, boosting them to riches and status practically overnight. That obviously doesn't sit well with white people such as Robert De Niro's rancher William Hale, the brutal uncle to DiCaprio's Ernest.
As the scheming pair talk about how they believe the riches should be going to them instead, they enact their plan to marry into the Osage Nation, surreptitiously steal legal claim to their wealth, and even go so far as to kill off those in their way. After some disturbing shots showing a man shot in the back of the head at night, we hear Mollie darkly intone, "I want to kill these white men who killed my family."
The murders soon grab the attention of Jesse Plemons' Tom White, a former Texas Ranger sent by the FBI to investigate.
The footage culminates in an explosive end, featuring a house blown up and Ernest seemingly in a daze at the violence surrounding him. By the end, we glimpse the uncle and nephew fully at odds with one another as Hale has Ernest tied up to a chair in an empty room. "You expecting a miracle? You know they don't happen anymore," he growls at his nephew. The imagery appears to tease a full-blown Western, with Scorsese on his brand of epic storytelling.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" will be released in select cinemas on October 6, 2023, before a wide release in the United States on October 20, 2023. But first, it'll have its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.