Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” Gets Fall Release From Apple

Apple has wisely chosen to release Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon this fall, right when the abundance of prestige films with award aspirations pour into theaters. Scorsese’s western crime drama, like any Scorsese film, frankly, has major award expectations, with the legendary director leading his longtime collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, along with a stellar cast that includes Jesse Plemmons, Lily Gladstone, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, Scott Shepherd, and Janae Collins.

Scorsese and screenwriter Eric Roth adapted the film from investigative journalist David Grann’s bestselling 2017 nonfiction book. Apple is distributing the film alongside Paramount Pictures. The movie will have a limited opening on Friday, October 6, and then go wide on Friday, October 20, after which it will stream on Apple TV+.

Killers of the Flower Moon is centered on an investigation into a series of murders of members of the Osage people in Oklahoma in the early 1920s after massive oil deposits were discovered beneath their land. The investigation into the crime helped establish the FBI and was considered a turning point for the country in shedding its frontier past. This isn’t the first book of Grann’s to be adapted for the big screen—his riveting tale of adventure and catastrophe in the Amazon, The Lost City of Z, was turned into a quietly powerful movie by James Gray. According to Eric Roth, Scorsese’s film could end up being the last true Western ever made.

“I know Marty’s trying to make a movie that’s probably the last Western that would be made like this, and yet, with this incredible social document underneath it, and the violence and the environment. I think it’ll be like nothing we’ve ever seen, in a way. And so this one is, to me, one for the ages,” Roth told Collider. 

DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of cattleman William Hale (Robert De Niro). Lily Gladstone, who is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage, plays Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman who has inherited an oil fortune. Jesse Plemons plays Tom White, a former Texas Ranger investigating the murders.

Here’s the synopsis for the film:

Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

For more on Killers of the Flower Moon, check out these stories:

John Lithgow Joins Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Screenwriter Eric Roth Says Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” Could Be Historic

Martin Scorsese & Leonardo DiCaprio’s Killers of the Flower Moon Headed to Apple

Featured image: Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” coming soon to Apple TV+.