After months of discussions with the Osage Nation about making “Killers of the Flower Moon” into a movie, it has now been confirmed that Martin Scorsese will film his adaptation of the grisly murder-mystery novel in Osage County.
“Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear told the Tulsa World on Friday evening that Scorsese and members of his team visited the Osage Nation campus earlier that day for about two hours. He said the tribe told Scorsese’s team about its interest in providing resources to help ensure that the film portrays an accurate representation of the Osage people.”
Scorsese, according to Osage Chief Standing Bear, said Robert De Niro has also agreed to play the part of William Hale, one of the main characters in the book.
Last year, Variety had confirmed that Scorsese and Dicaprio's sixth collaboration together would start production this summer. However, with Scorsese still putting the finishing touches on “The Irishman,” Tulsa World is also reporting that production will likely start next Spring of 2020. No matter, the movie is now definitely happening, with Paramount having even picked it up for distribution.
The film, written by Eric Roth, an Oscar winner for “Forrest Gump,” is based on a non-fiction book by David Grann. Grann’s book told the story of a murder mystery, set in 1920s Oklahoma, where Osage Indians suddenly began to get murdered, as did those trying to investigate. A corrupt FBI would eventually be tasked to investigate.
Scorsese and DiCaprio already have another project in the works, “The Devil in the White City,” but ‘Flower Moon’ seems to be the film that Scorsese will follow-up “The Irishman” with. As mentioned, it is destined to be their sixth collaboration together, after "Gangs of New York," "The Aviator," "The Departed," "Shutter Island," and "The Wolf of Wall Street."
Meanwhile, "The Irishman" starring Rober De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci will be released by Netflix later this year, supposedly on November 27th.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.