Filming "Killers of the Flower Moon"

Scorsese DiCaprio De Niro seldom do  those names appear on a single movie   marquee or tell a story that's quite so  dark Lee Cowen on their epic new film on the plains Northwest of Tulsa Oklahoma where  oil rigs outnumber the Bison lies a stain so   dark it makes the crude look crystal clear  a tragically true tale of man's inhumanity   to man that's hitting the big screen this  week oh I was uh sent down from Washington   DC to see about these murders H see see what  about 'em to see who's doing it trying to be   as truthful as possible is the only way to tell  these stories this wealth should come to us Oscar   winners Leonardo DiCaprio Martin Scorsese Robert  De Niro and a relative newcomer Lily Gladstone   teamed up with apple original films to bring  David grann's best-selling book killers of the   flower moon to life it's so simple the front  is the front the back is the back may he has   to make it look like a done himself it just looks  like murder it's not supposed to be that way in   this case it's not who done it who didn't do it  such action it's a sweeping epic 3 and 1/2 hours   long shot on location on the osage reservation  in Oklahoma where in 2017 we joined author and   journalist David Grann we're talking about scores  of murders and we're talking about a very small   population killers of the flower Moon took Grann  a decade to research each thread he pulled took   him down a darker Road this is a story that has  real evil in it evil like I've never covered or   ever experienced or researched about before  in my life really was that dark yeah yes the   Osage they have the worst land possible that evil  showed up when the money did the oaage land was   long thought to be worthless they outsmarted  everybody the land had oil on it in the 1920s   oil was discovered here which almost overnight  made the osage among the wealthiest people per   capita in the world money flows freely here now  I do love that money sir like a magnet their new   found Prosperity attracted Outsiders white men  mostly who came not just to bilk the Osage out   of their oil money but to inherit it the only  way you could get their money was to marry into   their families and then to slowly Target them  at this Osage cemetery in grey horse lies the   evidence that entire families were wiped out  either shot blown up drugged or poisoned Ernest   Burkhart wormed his way into the osage family  tree by Marrying an osage woman named Mollie back   in 1917 you talk too much their real life love  affair as troubled as it was is where the film begins what was that shi that's  how you are I don't know what   you said but it must have been Indian for handsome devil the heart of of the entire situation you're  in love the trust that goes with love and then   this extraordinary extraordinary betrayal  and Still Loving now how do we do that the   short answer carefully we did our absolute best to  listen to the osage community I don't know if we   did a perfect job who knows but they embraced us  and were so incredibly helpful and so vulnerable   this is an osage war shield typical um of that  time that era principal chief of the osage nation   Jeffrey M Standing Bear knows the risks letting  Hollywood in St Native Americans have always had   someone else tell them the story about us but  we wanted to tell our story when we spoke with   the cast and crew back in July they were all  on that same page especially Martin Scrosese   you deal with Native Americans and Indigenous  people you got to make sure everything we do   everything we do is as authentic as accurate  or at least is reasonably accurate from what   can be remembered as possible and respect and  respectful the So to that end he hired as many   osage as possible both in front of and behind  the camera they really worked hard at this and   earned our respect you felt comfortable with the  way they were going to approach it if you're not   comfortable with Marty Scorsese you're not going  to be comfortable with anybody I tell point I   don't sleep anymore come on now DiCaprio's  co-star Lily Gladstone has critics raving I   don't even know if you led me anymore course  I love you she grew up on the reservation of   the black feet nation in Montana she brought  so much to not only her character but to the   entire film she was an amazing partner to have  a thanks buddy it seems like that's emotional   low for you to hear I mean I guess I could try to  choke it down and put it somewhere else but why   it is it is it's um it's a big responsibility  and it's terrifying it's hard being a native   actor having this sort of this much that you are  you can audition for yeah Marty showed me what's possible the film called for her to speak fluent osage  DiCaprio and De Niro had to master that language too the language itself how hard was that it was  it was tough I mean he has he has the benefit of   like I mean you did an incredible job and  you also did an incredible job of doing it   the way a white man would say it that's my job  for Hollywood trivia Buffs this is the first   time that DiCaprio has worked with De Niro  and Scorsese on the same film at the same   time the two of them are so incredible together  they're shorthand the way they communicate it's   almost through sign language it's nods it's  it's this it's and I know I know I mean it's   it's incredible to watch you said that you have  sort of a short hand with with Robert De Niro   what do you have with Leo uh a long hand long H  with me it's a long discussions grinding things   up lots of rehearsals expecting a miracle to  make all this go [Music] away you know they   don't happen anymore for David Grann seeing all  of this come together was both satisfying and   to him a bit mesmerizing my world is not in  Hollywood at all I you know I'm I am a nerd   24 hours a day we caught up with him just before  the film debuted for the Osage in Tulsa back in   July the idea that now we're standing here and  there is going to be a film and more and more   people are going to learn about the history to  me that is what is so powerful um and and and   remarkable about it to me Grann ended his book  with a conversation he recalled having with an   elderly Osage woman as she looked out across the  Plains she quoted scripture the blood cries out   from the ground she said all these years  later perhaps those cries will finally be heard

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 621,347

Keywords: Martin Scorsese, Oklahoma, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sunday Morning, Entertainment, CBS Village

Id: LyJ9-QXW7hU

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 15 2023