Ever since The Playlist’s Gregory Elwood’s tweeted a month ago that Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” might get pushed to 2023, I’ve been asking around to anyone who might have a better idea about what’s going on.
It turns out Elwood wasn’t wrong. Scorsese and his longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker have been working at a snail’s pace on ‘Flower Moon’s’ post-production. Additional shooting has also been called for next week in Oklahoma.
Ok, fine, but doesn’t that still give the legendary duo enough time to complete their film? That’s an editing window between June and December, 7 months to get this one in the can, but that supposedly might not enough time for Thelma and Marty. They are very meticulous in their process and won’t be rushed, not even by a major studio like Apple.
Ever since 1980’s “Raging Bull”, the shortest post-production process for Schoonmaker and Scorsese has been 1990’s “Cape Fear” which took 8 months between shooting having wrapped and its release date. Yeah, they work like sloths.
Primary filming for “Killers of the Flower Moon” wrapped in October 2021. It seems like ‘Flower Moon’ can technically make it this year, but there have been skeptical murmurs within the Apple brass that it might not be enough time given the additional shooting that is taking place this month.
For the most part, Scorsese’s films have had a rather lengthy post-production process; Shutter Island (20 months), Silence (19 months), The Irishman (18 months), Hugo (15 months), The Age of Innocence (15 months), The Departed (13 months), The Aviator (13 months), Goodfellas (13 months), and Wolf of Wall Street (11 months).
If you don’t count the additional shooting, and “Killers of the Flower Moon” doesn’t follow an awards 2023 path then it will set a new record for the number of months between wrap and release in a Scorsese film.
The film’s screenwriter, Eric Roth, recently did an FYC interview for “Dune,” but also spoke at length about “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which he claimed was “being released in November” and that “Marty is well on his way to getting the editing done.” What happened?
If Apple is confident about the film, and why wouldn’t they be, then there’s no chance this gets released in the Spring of 2023, it’ll either be Summer or, most likely, in the Fall.
The film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in December 2028, timed to Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.