“I was writing a movie about white people”: Martin Scorsese rewrote the entire Killers of The Flower Moon

During his presentation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Robert de Niro announced the color: The Flower Moon Assassins it will be political. While he hasn’t revealed much about the production process of his new film, Martin Scorsese has the racial issue had led him to question himself deeply, even justifying the rewriting of the entire scenario.

“II realized I was making a film about all white men“

In The assassins of the Flower MoonMartin Scorsese intends to tell a part of the racist history of the United States through the series of murders suffered by the indigenous Osage community in Oklahoma in the early 1920s.

In an interview with the magazine Time, the octogenarian director explained that the first version of his screenplay was extremely faithful to the novel of the same name on which it was based. However, in David Grann’s book published in 2017, the story is perceived and told from the point of view of a white FBI officer named Tom White (one wonders if the choice of name is an ironic trait of the author).

We had reason to fear a film that would veer traumatic porn exhibiting the suffering endured by Native Americans and tells their story through the perspective of their killers instead of taking advantage of it to, finally, make your voice heard.

We might even have feared it The Flower Moon Assassins refreshes the racist stereotype of white savior, that liberates racialized people represented as passive and dependent on white benevolence. These questions seem to have crossed Martin Scorsese. In the columns of Timethe director confided:

“ 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 worried about “.

Second Lily GladstoneKillers of The Flower Moon almost became a “ white savior story »

This awareness led the director to review his entire screenplay, starting with the role of Leonardo DiCaprio. If the actor was to play Tom White, the role would ultimately go to Jesse Plemons (The power of the dog, Judas and the Black Messiah). The role was also significantly reduced, while the FBI investigation was relegated to the background.

The version Scorses ultimately chose should now tell a story ” inside “ focusing on the couple formed by DiCaprio, nephew of the bloodthirsty William Hale (Robert De Niro) and the American actress of indigenous origins Lily Gladstone. In an interview for Interviewthe one who plays an Osage confirmed that in the first version of the script, “ the focus would be on the FBI, with Mollie and Ernest being part of the subplot, rather than the central plot ». In another interview for VultureLily Gladstone assured that the film was not a “The White Savior Story” but that of “Osage, who says, “Do something. Here’s some money. Come and help us » ».

To discover this film that we are waiting around the corner, see you at the cinema on October 18th (prior to its release on Apple TV+).

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