Martin Scorsese Killers of the flower moon took a bow Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival and was met with an enthusiastic standing ovation lasting about nine minutes.
During his remarks from the premiere, Scorsese said, “We shot this in Oklahoma a few years ago and it took a while to get around. Apple has done such a great job shooting us out there. He also said, “I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like it.”
Apple Original Films western crime drama, clocking in at three hours and 26 minutes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, is being distributed theatrically by Paramount in France and the US. Gladstone and other cast members burst into tears during the standing ovation.
The premiere was packed with celebrity friends and former associates of DiCaprio and Scorsese, as well as actors who appeared in other films on the Cannes roster. Among those who walked the red carpet of the Palais des Festivals were Tobey Maguire, Cate Blanchett, Paul Dano, Salma Hayek, Naomi Cambell, Tye Sheridan, Alfonso Cuaron, Indiana Jones5 director James Mangold and more. And in a show of corporate power, Apple CEO Tim Cook walked the carpet alongside the film’s star cast.
Scorsese and screenwriter Eric Roth adapted the film from David Grann’s bestselling 2017 non-fiction book of the same name. It revolves around an FBI investigation into a series of murders of the Osage people that took place in Oklahoma in the early 1920s and became known as the Reign of Terror after oil was discovered on tribal lands.
In his sixth collaboration with Scorsese, DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of rancher William Hale (De Niro). Gladstone, who is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu descent, first broke out in Kelly Reichardt’s 2017 film Certain womenplays Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman who has inherited an oil fortune. The cast also includes Jesse Plemons as Tom White, a former Texas Ranger investigating the murders, and Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, and Tantoo Cardinal.
Scorsese – who has previously had numerous films set at Cannes, both in competition (including Cab driverwho won the Palme d’Or in 1976, and After hoursfor which he was awarded Best Director in 1985) and from that (numerous documentaries) — and Apple chose not to accept Cannes festival boss Thierry Fremaux’s offer to screen the film in competition.
