Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon: A True Story of Love and Evil

On the plains northwest of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where oil rigs outnumber bison, lies a slick so dark that the raw material appears crystal clear—a tragically true story of man’s inhumanity to man that comes to the big screen in this week.

Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and relative newcomer Lily Gladstone have teamed up with Apple Original Films to bring David Grann’s bestselling book Killers of the Flower Moon to life. “Trying to be as truthful as possible is the only way to tell these stories,” DiCaprio said.

Grann spent ten years researching his book on which the film is based. “We’re talking about a lot of murders, and we’re talking about a very small population,” he said.

As director Martin Scorsese notes: “It’s not who did it, but who didn’t do it.”

The film (out in theaters October 20) is a three-and-a-half-hour epic filmed on location on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma. It was there, in 2017, that Grann described to Sunday Morning how every thread he picked up in his research led him down a darker path: “There is real evil in this story, evil that I have never told, or ever experienced or explored this before in my life.” This evil manifested itself when money appeared.

From 2017: David Grann recounts the Osage murders in Killers of the Flower Moon:

Osage land was long considered worthless. But oil was discovered there in the 1920s, making the Osage people almost overnight one of the richest people per capita in the world. Like a magnet, their newfound prosperity attracted outsiders—mostly white men—who came not just to rob the Osages of their oil money, but to inherit it.

“The only way to get their money is to marry into their families and then slowly attack them,” Grann said.

The Osage Cemetery in Gray Horse contains evidence that entire families were destroyed – shot, blown up, drugged or poisoned.

Ernest Burkhart entered the Osage family tree by marrying an Osage woman named Molly in 1917. Their real-life love affair, as disturbing as it may be, is where the film begins.

Scorsese said, “The whole point of the whole situation is love, the trust that goes with love, and then this extraordinary betrayal, and still (remain) loving. How can we do this?

Short answer? Carefully.

“We did our best to listen to the Osage community,” DiCaprio said. “I don’t know if we did a good job. Who knows? But they embraced us and were incredibly helpful and so vulnerable.”

Osage Nation Principal Chief Jeffrey M. Standing Bear recognizes the risks of letting Hollywood in: “Native Americans have always asked someone else to tell the story of us, but we wanted to tell our story,” he said.

When “Sunday Morning” spoke with the cast and crew in July, they were all on the same page, especially Martin Scorsese: “You’re dealing with Native Americans and indigenous peoples, you have to make sure that everything we do, everything that we make it as reliable, accurate, or at least as accurate as possible from what can be remembered, as possible and respectfully.”

To this end, he hired as many Osages as possible, both in front of and behind the camera. Chief Standing Bear admitted, “They really worked hard on this and they’ve earned our respect.”

Cowan asked, “Did you feel comfortable with how they were going to approach this issue?”

“If you’re not comfortable with Martin Scorsese, you won’t be comfortable with anyone!” Standing Bear responded.

DiCaprio’s co-star, Lily Gladstone (“Certain Women”), was a critical delight. She grew up on the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana.

“She brought so much to not only her character, but to the whole film,” DiCaprio said. “She was an amazing partner.”

Gladstone became emotional upon hearing these words from her acting partner. “I guess I could try to strangle him and put him somewhere else, but why?” She said. “It’s (emotional). This is true. It’s a big responsibility and it’s scary. It’s hard to be a native actor with such… It’s enough which you can audition for. Marty showed me what was possible.”

In the film, she was challenged to speak Osage fluently. DiCaprio and De Niro also had to master this language. “It wasn’t easy,” DiCaprio admitted.

“I mean, you did an incredible job,” Gladstone said. “You also did an incredible job of doing it the way a white person would say it!”

“This is my job!” he laughed.

For Hollywood trivia fans, this is the first time DiCaprio has worked with De Niro and Scorsese on the same film at the same time. “They’re so incredible together,” DiCaprio said. “Their shorthand, the way they communicate, is almost through sign language. It’s the nods and “I know, I know.” I mean, it’s incredible to watch!”

Cowan asked Scorsese: “(Leo) said you have some kind of shorthand with Robert De Niro. What’s up with you and Leo?

“Um, by hand,” the director laughed.

DiCaprio agreed: “With me it’s long discussions, polishing things, a lot of rehearsals.”

For David Grann, seeing it all come together was both pleasing and a little mesmerizing. “My world is not Hollywood at all,” he said. “I’m a nerd 24 hours a day!”

“Sunday Morning” caught up with him just before the film debuted among the Osages in Tulsa back in July. “The idea that we’re standing here and there and a movie is going to be made and more and more people are going to learn about the story, to me that’s what’s so powerful and remarkable about it,” Grann said.

He ended his book with a conversation he recalled having with an elderly Osage woman. Looking out over the plains, she quoted Scripture: Blood screams from the ground.

After all these years, perhaps those cries are finally being heard.

READ REST: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

To watch the Killers of the Flower Moon trailer, click on the video player below:

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The story was produced by Jason Sacca. Editor: Remington Corper.

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