Here's everything we know about Leonardo DiCaprio's upcoming movie, Killers of the Flower Moon. DiCaprio is teaming up with Martin Scorsese again for the film – and here’s what to know about it. DiCaprio has become one of the most beloved and respected actors of his generation thanks to the variety of characters he has played. He caught the attention of critics, viewers, and filmmakers with his role as Arnie Grape in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Since then, the actor has been in movies from different genres that allowed him to show his range, such as in The Basketball Diaries, The Quick and the Dead, and Romeo + Juliet.
DiCaprio’s big break came in 1997 in James Cameron’s Titanic, where he played Jack Dawson, a young man who falls in love with Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) aboard the title ship, but they are from different social classes, something unacceptable back in 1912. Titanic boosted DiCaprio’s career and made him a widely-known name in the film industry, opening many doors for him. After Titanic came projects like The Man in the Iron Mask, The Beach, and Catch Me If You Can. In 2002, DiCaprio joined Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, marking the first of many collaborations between them that went on to include Shutter Island, The Aviator, and The Departed.
Killers of the Flower Moon, the fifth film the duo has worked on together, comes years after their last collaboration in 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street. Their next venture is a Western crime drama that also stars Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Gladstone. The film wrapped production in October 2021 and will likely release near the end of 2022. But what is Killers of the Flower Moon about and what is Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in it?
What Is Killers of the Flower Moon About?
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. The book follows the true story surrounding the investigation of a series of murders and other crimes committed against the Osage people, an Indigenous tribe living in Osage County, Oklahoma in the early 1920s. The story in Killers of the Flower Moon explores how after oil deposits were discovered on their land, the Osage people were legally entitled to the profits that came from the sales thereafter. However, the administrators of the land decided they could simplify their profit mongering of the oil profits by eliminating the Osage, which would ensure the profits from the oil deposits went straight into their own pockets and the Osage tribe saw none of it.
The administrators then came up with a complex plot to eliminate the Osage people and steal their wealth, officially killing 20 people, though Grann suspected there were many more. Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon will follow the same story, which involved the FBI investigation under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover. The film, which was written by Eric Roth, is being produced by Apple Studios (among others) and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures and the streaming service Apple TV+ when it's released, though no official date has been set just yet.
Who Leonardo DiCaprio Plays In Killers of the Flower Moon
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of William Hale, who is played by Robert De Niro, and the main antagonist of the story. Ernest is based on the real-life person who married Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone, pictured above), a member of the Osage tribe whose family — including her mother and two sisters — was killed during the murder spree instigated by Hale. Ernest, in a bid to inherit some of the wealth, later pleaded guilty to conspiring with his uncle.
DiCaprio will certainly play a big role in the story, though Ernest isn't the original role he was up for in Killers of the Flower Moon. As it turns out, DiCaprio was originally eyed for a different role, as the character of Tom White, the lead FBI agent on the case. Tom White was written for him, but the actor asked to have his role changed so that he could play Ernest Burkhart instead. Jesse Plemons was then cast as Tom White and DiCaprio as Ernest, who was key to his uncle's plans to steal the Osage's wealth.