Martin Scorsese’s highly-anticipated Killers of the Flower Moon has finally entered the world, and the wait was worth it. While there most certainly will be a lull in discussion surrounding the drama over the next few months preceding the fall festival season, we now have the first extensive recorded conversation with the creative team, thanks to the Cannes Film Festival press conference. Featuring Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, and Osage Nation leader Chief Standing Bear, they discussed the collaborative process of crafting the film (this thread is also a must-read), how Scorsese and De Niro’s collaborations influenced “everything” DiCaprio has done in his career, and more.
One of the most inspiring bits came from the 80-year-old Scorsese, when asked about the risks he continues to take in his career. “As far as taking risks at this age, what else can I do? What am I going to do? What do they want me to do? I don’t understand. ‘Let’s do something comfortable.’ Are you kidding?,” he said. “Comfortable, like sitting comfortable on a set in the heat? You might as well be risking. I don’t mean to be flippant about it, but you are right, it is a big gamble. We took a chance.”
Luke Hicks said in his review of Killers of the Flower Moon, “The dialogue-heavy screenplay marks Scorsese’s first since Silence, penned alongside Eric Roth––the brilliant screenwriter most notably behind The Insider, more popularly Forrest Gump and Dune. There’s a grand irony in who’s calling who “savage” that shines as bright as the sun over the sprawling screenplay. It manifests in myriad ways: the community-centric mind of the Osage people in contrast to the greedy, capitalistic approach of the whites; the humanity of the Osage against the animality of the whites, a fullness of spirit against a voracious, insatiable hunger.”
Watch the press conference below, as well as Alfonso Cuarón’s comments on Scorsese’s “amazing masterpiece.”