Killers of the Flower Moon: Martin Scorsese’s Radical Rewrite and Change of Perspective

Killers of the Flower Moon could have been totally different if Martin Scorsese had not made this radical decision! Indeed, after 2 years of work alongside his co-writer Eric Roth, the filmmaker decided to throw away the first version of his screenplay, which followed the main plot of the book on which it was inspired: The American Note by David Grann.

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In this extensive investigation published in 2017, the author presents the FBI’s investigations into a series of murders that affected the Osage Native American tribe, in Oklahoma, in the early 1920s. The story is thus told from the point of view of Tom White, the FBI agent who investigated these assassinations. Note that the version of the screenplay adaptation was still 200 pages! It took Scorsese and his team more than 4.5 hours to do a first reading, as he explains. in the columns of Variety.

Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth therefore decided to faithfully follow David Grann’s plot in developing the screenplay. Leonardo DiCaprio was to play Tom White and Jesse Plemons was to play Ernest Burkhart. But after two years of hard work between 2018 and 2020, a discussion between Scorsese and DiCaprio changed things. After meeting many members of the Osage community and immersed in their culture, the decision was made to rewrite the scenario by changing perspective.

CHANGE YOUR POINT OF VIEW

“We thought through every aspect of the story, taking the point of view of the FBI and Tom White’s character, and including elements of the Texas Rangers story. Everything revolved around Tom White. We looked at the story from a all its angles, always with Tom White as the main character”indicates the filmmaker.

“After a certain point, I realized I was making a film about all white men. That meant I was taking an outside-in approach, which concerned me.”revealed the director at the microphone of Time. “Why make a film about Tom White when it’s about the history of the Osages”asked DiCaprio and Scorsese.

After a certain point, I realized I was making a movie about all white men. This meant I was taking an outside-in approach, which was something I was concerned about.

“Here’s what it looked like: he gets off a train, we see his boots, the camera moves back up and he appears, wearing his Stetston. He enters the city, without saying a word. We’ve already seen that elsewhere”underlines Martin Scorsese.

With DiCaprio, they therefore decided to go back and tell the story from the Osage point of view, deepening the relationship between Ernest and Mollie. After this questioning, Leonardo left the role of Tom White to Jesse Plemons, taking over that of Burkhart.

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF THE OSAGES

“It took a while to perfect the storyline, to get Eric Roth, Marty and I to really take the Osage perspective instead of just making it the story of an FBI investigation. The book works beautifully but the risk was for the film to be yet another story of a white savior, an FBI agent who comes in and solves problems. We could easily have fallen into that. David Grann was very direct and told us: if you want to to make a film, you have to understand the role of the Osages in this story”with Leonardo DiCaprio.

It took a while to perfect the script, so that Eric Roth, Marty and I really took the Osage perspective instead of just making it the story of an FBI investigation.

“It’s a different film from the one imagined by Scorsese at the start, thanks in particular to the words of the Osage community. It’s not a story of a white savior. It’s the Osages who say: Do something. That’s it. ‘money, come and help us’underlines Lily Gladstone, who plays Mollie in the film.

According to Scorsese, the interest of Killers of the Flower Moon lies in the intimacy of the relationship between the victims and their executioners. These latter “lived with them, loved them, but killed them. It also questions who we are as Westerners, as Europeans. What values ​​did we bring with us to this New World? And this story directly touches at the heart of this question”analyzes the director.

After rewriting the script, filming took place over 7 long months between April and September 2021. It then took long weeks of editing to produce 3 hours and 26 minutes of this monumental fresco. Distributed by Paramount, the film has been in theaters since October 18.