It was probably not anticipated that Killers of the Flower Moon would be Robbie Robertson’s swan song, but he talked about it––his 11th collaboration with Martin Scorsese––in such rapt terms that one might call this a fitting finale. So he said:
“I feel that the score is unexpected in many ways and authentic to the heart of the story. For me, it’s kind of perfection to be able to go all the way around this big circle. Starting at Six Nations when music comes along in my life, and then to my history with Martin Scorsese and all the movies leading up to Killers of the Flower Moon. The fact that we’re getting to do a Western in our own way, you really couldn’t have written this. We’re in awe ourselves that our brotherhood has outlasted everything. We’ve been there, we’ve been through it. I am so proud of both our friendship and our work. They have been a gift in my life.”
Robertson was the descendant of a Cayuga-Mohawk mother who often took him to the Six Nations Reserve near Toronto, an experience that, he says, had him “gathering pictures in my head of music I heard as a child.” The path from his “relatives […] all sitting around with their instruments” to the IMAX speakers it’ll be playing from this weekend is long, but again: perhaps the most fitting end.
Listen below, and read our review of the film: