Martin Scorsese hit Vegas on Thursday. No, he wasn’t there to revisit the Sin City locale of “Casino,” one of his mob masterpieces. He traveled to the gambling Mecca bearing his latest opus, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a labyrinthine story of murder and greed that, if he plays his cards right, might be one of this year’s major awards contenders.
The “greatest living director” shared the first trailer for the film at CinemaCon, the annual conference of theater owners that’s been taking place this week. Based on David Grann’s bestselling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a true story, one that pulls back the curtain on a series of murders of wealthy Osage people that took place in the early 1920s after major oil deposits were discovered on their land. It also looks at how the newly formed FBI investigated the killings.
“This is a big screen movie, and that’s what we made,” Scorsese said, promising a story told on an “epic scale.”
The film reunites Scorsese with two of his most frequent collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, as well as Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow and Lily Gladstone.
“I’d like to thank the entire Osage Nation,” Scorsese said, praising them for “working tirelessly” to bring the story to life.
And the movie sees DiCaprio and De Niro playing two schemers who would like to get their hands on the Osage wealth, even if it means blowing up, shooting or otherwise violently disposing of people.
“I do love that money sir,” DiCaprio tells De Niro, who portrays an immoral cable baron, in the trailer. “This wealth should come to us,” De Niro later advises. The trailer also depicts DiCaprio trying to seduce Gladstone, who he later marries.
But Plemons, playing an upright lawman, may have other ideas. He warns DiCaprio’s shadowy operator that he wants to find out who is responsible for all the carnage. “I was sent down from Washington D.C. to see about these murders,” Plemons tells DiCaprio’ “See what about it,” DiCaprio replies. “See who’s doing it.”
Paramount teased the footage during its presentation. It is distributing the film, which was co-produced by Apple Original Films. With a $200 million budget and a runtime that tops out at more than 3 hours and 20 minutes, the film is vast in every sense of the word (moviegoers with weak bladders be warned!). It will debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival before opening in theaters on Oct. 6. Scorsese wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth.
Paramount also offered up footage from the latest “Transformers” and “Mission: Impossible” movies, as well as from “Marley,” its look at music legend Bob Marley.
