Martin Scorsese is, without question, one of the greatest film directors who has ever lived. He has made some of the most well regarded movies ever and he's done it yet again with his long time collaborator Robert De Niro in the Oscar nominated The Irishman. While that movie feels like the perfect capstone on the career of those two great filmmakers, it won't be the last movie they make together as, last night during the Screen Actors Guild Awards, it was confirmed that Scorsese will be directing De Niro once again very soon, and another of Scorsese's company of stars, Leonardo DiCaprio, is also coming along for the ride.
Last night, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Robert De Niro received the organization's lifetime achievement award. Leonardo DiCaprio, who had his first starring role alongside De Niro in 1993's This Boy's Life, presented the actor with the award, and as part of the introduction, confirmed that he will be joining the actor on screen in the film adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon, to be directed by Martin Scorsese. In DiCaprio's words...
I've learned so much from the both of them. I'm fortunate to call them collaborators, Bob since This Boy's Life and Marty since Gangs of New York. And after 30 years, to work alongside Bob again in Martin Scorsese's upcoming drama Killers of the Flower Moon is a true honor.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2017 book by David Grann which investigates a series of murders of members of the Osage Native American tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s. The Osage people were the legal owners of land in which a rich oil deposit was discovered, but a conflict arose between the Native Americans and others who wanted the wealth that came from the oil, leading to at least 20 murders of members of the Osage tribe. The investigation of the murders was a major case for the relatively newly formed FBI.
It had been previously reported that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio were working on an adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon, and it had been rumored that Robert Deo Niro was also attached, but DeCaprio's, certainly calculated, remarks are the first confirmation that we have had that these three powerhouses are, in fact, coming together for the film.
The word last month was that the movie was eyeing this March to start filming, so the movie will be getting underway shortly. With these three awards' season mainstays involved, one can already pencil in a release date for late in the year 2021, as it feels like this one will be looking to be an Oscar contender.
Between them, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio have five Best Actor Oscar nominations for Martin Scorsese films, and Scorsese himself will be competing for Best Director at the Academy Awards for the ninth time next month.
