Martin Scorsese Says Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Flower Moon’ Performance “Will Endure,” Despite Oscar Snub

If the Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig Oscar snubs caused some backlash, Leonardo DiCaprio's absence in the Best Actor category went a little more discreetly unnoticed. But Martin Scorsese wants us to know that he deserved better.

The director of “Killers of the Flower Moon” tells Variety that, even if there is no Oscar nomination to mark the occasion, Leo's performance will remain in the annals of cinematic history:

He went so far into the complexities and contradictions of a man who was so weak, so malleable, who did such unspeakable things, but who also truly loved his wife. Leo fearlessly created a true Everyman … an Everyman that people just don’t want to acknowledge. So that will endure

Lily Gladstone, who plays Mollie Kyle in “Killers of the Flower Moon”, also said that her parents were “pissed” when they found out that DiCaprio was snubbed. She added, “[DiCaprio] was the first to text me congratulations, with popping confetti. I told him how upset we all were. My nomination is equal parts his. I would not have been able to do what I did without his generosity as an actor and as a human being.

Dicaprio is astonishing as the useful idiot in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich called it the best performance of his career, but has he forgotten about “The Wolf of Wall Street”? That’s the performance DiCaprio was born to play.

Regardless, DiCaprio’s work in ‘Killers’ is up there in his top three. In the film, Dicaprio’s Ernest and Lily Gladstone’s Mollie have this completely twisted relationship — the bond between an Osage woman and the white man who murders her entire family. It’s literally that.

And yet, as human nature has a way of doing, Ernest still has this sweet-natured love for Mollie. You almost can’t help but like him as his every move is being controlled by his madcap and greed-loving uncle (played by Robert De Niro).

You don’t even realize the overall impact of Ernest and Mollie’s messed up union until the very end. It’s complex stuff and DiCaprio absolutely nails this role. He’s not a hero nor is he some kind of one-dimensional villain, but rather an unreflective, naive henchman, whose actions inspire revulsion.

Of course, DiCaprio already won an Oscar, but for the wrong film (“The Revenant”). He actually deserved to win for ”The Wolf of Wall Street,” and maybe even for ‘Killers,’ which is one of the best performances of his career.