Martin Scorsese is now insisting that there is a set date for the long-delayed shoot on “Killers of the Flower Moon” to begin:
“We’re casting, we’re working on the script. There’s a crew out in Oklahoma scouting the locations and getting the production schedule worked out. Because we hope to go to Oklahoma sometime in January and we aim to start shooting on April 5th. And then through April, May, June, July, because I need a change in weather.”
Apple TV and Scorsese are teaming up for the upcoming movie, which Paramount is still set to distribute. Supposedly, the budget on ‘Killers’ had inflated to a worrisome $225M and started to get Paramount a little concerned about its commercial prospects. The troubled post-production on the film resulted in Scorsese reaching out to countless studios including Netflix, Universal, and MGM. Ultimately, Apple TV+ won out the bidding rights.
The 77-year-old director of such classics as “Goodfellas,” “Raging Bull,” and “Taxi Driver” was set to shoot “Killers of the Flower Moon” in March, but production was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then another scheduled June shoot was delayed due to the virus.
The film, an adaptation of David Grann’s grisly murder-mystery novel, is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone. The screenplay, written by Eric Roth, takes place in 1920s Oklahoma and tells the story of a corrupt FBI investigation on Osage Indians who suddenly start to get murdered.
Rumors about the ‘Flower Moon’ script being overhauled were, more or less, confirmed in November. Eric Roth’s original script was the primary source for Paramount Pictures’ decision to sell the film to Apple. In Roth’s version of the film, DiCaprio was starring as the hero, a federal agent working for the newly-established FBI, trying to solve murders in the native reserve of Osage Nation. DiCaprio’s script overhaul reportedly changed the perspective of the film as the actor now would take on the nephew of the villainous killer played by De Niro.
There is currently no release date for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but one assumes the possibility of a 2022 release primed and ready for Oscar season.
It gives me no pleasure to report that this is one of the worst films of Schrader’s career. Wooden acting, Jack Huston and Sofia Boutella are badly miscast, the script is dull, the photography is flat; nothing works.