Apple
Martin Scorsese reunites with his longtime muses in the first trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon, the upcoming epic western based on David Grann’s best-selling 2017 non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” Set in 1920’s Oklahoma, the drama focuses on a series of Osage Nation murders over oil rights and the newly formed FBI’s investigation into the murders. Supporting cast includes Jesse Plemons and “Certain Women” breakout Lily Gladstone.
For DiCaprio and De Niro, Flower Moon marks the first time the Oscar-winners have worked together in a feature film since Michael Caton-Jones’ 1993 drama This Boy’s Life. Both actors played fictionalized versions of themselves in Scorsese’s short film The Audition. De Niro earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor by starring in and winning for Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Cape Fear and Raging Bull. DiCaprio was nominated for an Oscar for Scorsese’s The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street. “Flower Moon” is the first time that all three employees work together on a feature film.
DiCaprio stars in “Flower Moon” as Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of a powerful local rancher (De Niro) who is implicated in the murders of the Osage Nation. Burkhart is married to an Indigenous woman played by Gladstone. Plemons plays Tom White, the senior FBI agent investigating the murders. Flower Moon was originally conceived for DiCaprio to play the FBI agent, but the actor readjusted the script after deciding to play the morally conflicted Ernest.
The clip introduces DiCaprio’s character saying in a menacing voiceover, “There are many, so many hungry wolves. Can you find the wolves in this picture?” As the trailer intensifies, glimpses of DiCaprio, De Niro and Gladstone appear in scenes of chaos and violence, while bloodcurdling screams ring out in the background. “Greed is an animal,” reads the trailer’s title card, “that hungers for blood.” Before the teaser ends, DiCaprio asks again, “Can you find the wolves in this picture?”
The full “Flower Moon” cast includes Scott Shepherd, Pat Healy, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Gary Basaraba, Brendan Fraser and Grammy Award – Winning musicians Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson. Scorsese insisted on casting Indigenous actors as members of the Osage Nation in his film.
Apple and Paramount will bring Killers of the Flower Moon to theaters on October 18th. Watch the first official trailer for the film in the video below.