Killers of the Flower Moon – Press conference – EV – Cannes 2023

foreign [Applause] because I know that you guys have a lot of questions but uh let me first introduce uh to you the participant of the press conference today to my left Monsieur Leonardo DiCaprio next to him Lily Gladstone [Applause] to the end of the table we have the honor to have with us the chief nation of sage Standing Bear of course [Applause] all right guys we're gonna talk about the movie in a minute but I just want to to start with that I mean I saw the image uh this morning and uh your emotion at the end of the screening during the the long-standing Ovation was like it was really touching I mean I wonder this question for all of you what was the feeling uh at the end of the of the screening yesterday let's start with you Mrs concept oh it was the combination of um years of work and um an extraordinary warmth and I think love that was expressed I don't know I'm saying for my me I'm talking about for Lily for Leo for Bob or the Osage all of this seemed to come together in the room uh it really did and um I I think it came from the heart and I think that was I know it was so moving because of that you want to know something I'm sorry what was I feeling yesterday after the screening oh gratitude um that's really special as Marty said having all of the people that are representing this film here together in so many different ways it was um felt very just a lot always felt very just then you were yeah what Marty said I agree it was perfect the way he said what the experience was for us it was it was really very nice we haven't been here I guess it's 76 76 taxi drivers yeah it was nice being back in this way yeah yeah yep um what can I say except that it was it felt like a very important moment especially how the Osage Community embraced us telling this story gave us the trust and our adaptation of the novel and to have them here with us side by side to tell such a a personal tragedy to their entire Community was it was a beautiful moment it's and I just took a lot of mental pictures it was something that I'm never never going to forget we took great pride in in being able to tell this story as best we could and we were just incredibly happy that they were here with us side by side and chief it's not been very special for you I mean first of all the the the movie is it's of course an unbelievable Story I mean it's like a fascinating and frightening and scary and everything you want but it's also a presentation of of a culture that we didn't know and I mean Martin did a terrible terrific job in in presenting the culture the tradition the the way it works how did it feel to to show that to the world it was the first screening yesterday so how did it fit to to introduce this culture to uh to to to the world around us well thank you for the question and thank you all for your interest uh it uh early it being the movie uh early on I asked Mr Scorsese how are you going to approach the story and he said I'm going to tell a story about Trust Trust on between Molly and Ernest and trust between the outside world and the Osage and a betrayal of those trusts deep betrayal and my people suffered greatly and to this day to this very day those effects are with us but I can't say on behalf of the Osage Marty Scorsese and his team have restored trust and we know that trust will not be betrayed [Applause] we have a question right here hi it's uh Jason Garber from thatshelf.com in Canada I would be remiss if not recognizing that the tragic murder of indigenous women continues to this day in North America so thoughts out to those still missing and murdered in my country in the country's South Mr Scorsese Mr DiCaprio This film started originally as more of a straight ahead cop drama like the source material and you decided to go in a very different direction which was very costly very time consuming but resulted in being able to tell the story that Lily and Leo you get to tell of this Dynamic of this relationship instead of focusing on that uh Mr Scorsese we wouldn't have minded if you just made the Straight Ahead movie but you decided to take this twist can you talk about this stage in your career of still Taking Chances and if the two actors and Mr De Niro can discuss bringing these rules to life in such a subtle complex and nuanced way thank you yeah I I um we we touched upon it after having myself and Eric Roth and and all of us together trying to get the story um uh expressed uh from the point of view of the um of the Bureau of Investigation coming in um and I I said well I think the audience is ahead of us they know it's not a whodunit who it's who didn't do it and and at one point this after two years of working on the script at one point Leo came to me and he was going to play Tom white was it Tom I think the the uh yeah that Jesse plays and um said to me where's the heart of this story and I had had some meetings with the Osage and some dinners at gray horse and uh question pahaska and uh they got up and spoke and I learned a lot about them in those three hours I learned about the people themselves and and the stories and all related to each other and there's still relations and there's still issues and so and so was in love no he wasn't yes she was no and it goes on like that and I said well there's the story the story is in the character that the least is written about earnest and of course that's what Leo wanted to do he said let's try to find who Ernest is oh let's create Earnest as an example or as a as a I use my words carefully but as a template for that tragedy of love trust and betrayal of the indigenous people when the white it just happened you know and I said well we could really get in there and twist and turn the story around and then I know we had when we met Lilly we knew we had it you see and so that was the way to go um uh as far as taking risks at this age what else can I do what am I going to do we're gonna I don't know what do they want me to do I don't understand you take a risk no let's go do something comfortable are you kidding kidding comfortable like sitting comfortable on a set in the heat you might as well be risking you know I don't mean to be flip about it but it is you're right it is a big gamble but um I don't know we took a chance sorry Leo yeah thank you um you know we I remember us talking very early on about what Marty does so incredibly well is he's able to expose the the humanity of of even some of the most Twisted Sinister characters you could ever imagine he brings he brings out the Human Condition and his work we we saw a few Montgomery Clift films very early on yeah the heiress yeah the heiress placed in the sun Red River and I think the gamble was to take on this incredibly important story that really was a Reckoning with um our past I mean so much has been learned in the last few years and this story has um much like the Tulsa Massacre has been something that people have started to learn about and started to understand it was a part of our culture as a part of our history and it was a really really a throwback to you know great epic films of the 1940s that have at its Center this very Twisted um Bizarre Love Story that we really worked very hard on I mean we almost went after the screenplay all of us from almost an anthropological perspective Marty was there every day we were talking to the community trying to hear the real stories and trying to incorporate the truth as best we possibly could and no matter what people feel about the film I know we all did that work and we tried our very best to pay respects to the real stories and incorporate that into the narrative that's something about the second part of the story how you brought to life is so subtle and beautiful relationships are Molly and ernestyle [Laughter] um the first thing that just stands out in my mind um not to not to correct anything about what you just said but I think what we did transcended anthropological we're we're artists or storytellers we reach into the humanity and native peoples are used to having anthropologists come in curious about everything that we do um these these artistic Souls on this stage here cared about telling a story that pierces the veil of what Society tells us we're supposed to care about and not um by focusing on these conflicted characters I really who else is going to challenge people to challenge their own complicity and white supremacy and such a platform except for this man here other artists are doing that work people listen to what this one says so turning the lens turning the big lens the the the most golden lens into into areas where our communities you know we're speaking of the 1920s Osage Community we're talking about Black Wall Street in Tulsa we're talking about a lot in our film and why the hell does the world not know about these things our communities always have it's so Central to everything about how we understand our place in the world um we also still need we also still need this you know we need these allies we need these allies you know it's um so yes it's uh certainly there was the interest there but I think I mean I'm just giving you more credit than that you were there as a human being not as a not as somebody who is studying people you were we were immersed there and there's no other way to tell these stories there's there's no other way than to step in and allow the world that you're in to shape what you're saying so um all of that it's it's hard to with a character like Molly get two in there and two expository or try to explain like the thought behind the look because that's doing this audience at his Service as well you know um Molly was a trick in holding true to not only the way she's perceived in the book by the lake but by the Legacy that she's left in the community by playing an Osage woman who conducts herself with Grace and with measure um but also with humor and with unshakable strength it's the reason that those of you who have seen the film and not to ruin it for anybody but it was the driving force of why the end needed to be what it is um the the cultural perpetuity the pro the perseverance um and Molly is an example of somebody who you know I don't I almost don't want to talk about an acting process when it comes to her I just had to be there and receive what the community told me she needed to be what my own family has told me about my great-grandmother Lily who would have been Molly's contemporary who was also a devoutly Catholic but also a very traditional Blackfoot woman um and all of those things um so yeah it was I'm not sure it's me finding it so much is it Finding Me [Applause] thank you Chaz Ebert from Chicago um hi Marty thank you so much for coming back to can it was a long time but with such a masterful film you're a masterful filmmaker and my husband once called you our our nation's finest filmmaker um this was a big story to wrap your arms around and it was a a very shameful chapter in our history you you it's part western part romance part True Crime and I want to give thanks to your editor Thelma because I'm sure it was a very big editing job thank you my question for you is how did you work how much did you work with the tribal council and this is a question for you and the chief to make sure that you got some of the um the the feelings right thank you so much for not making this just a story about the FBI running in and saving everybody you put it in a historical context and not you didn't make it the big story I want to know what the chief end with you how did you work with the Tribal Council of Elders to make this more authentic well I mean the first thing when the the book was presented to me and the script I've automatically understood I said well if we go anywhere near indigenous Nations we have to be very very respectful and uh try to I I gotta tell you I mean you just have a first meeting with the chief Standing Bear and then you have another meeting and you have a dinner and they say they get up and they they speak the guys get up and speak and they say a prayer um and there's a ritual and I was so moved and so affected by by that by every every time uh even if any of you were lucky enough yesterday to hear Tali give a speech at the at the at the hotel um and this is what grounded me and I knew what I heard what what their values are about love and respect and loving the Earth uh and I you know I'm not talking about uh at this point of a political issue but I'm talking about really understanding how to live on this planet um and uh I found that the values were so important to me and I it it reoriented me every time they spoke it just reoriented me as to what we're doing here and we're making a movie yes but what we're doing here on Earth and so um it seemed to lock in uh and and actually uh um we began a process when I said to be very respectful because I wanted to know everything I could about the Osage everything and it was overwhelming overwhelming you could even go into uh uh part of their uh Montesquieu took um some aspects of their organization which later on the founding fathers based some of our American uh um the formation Declaration of Independence and it goes way back and so uh all of this the more I the more I found out the more I wanted to put in so and um that began a process where um Marianne Bauer uh associate producer and my archivist uh began working with um the chief Standing Bear and the the council and all the people that we the key people there and in Oklahoma as to every detail of and without making it fussy let me see it has to feel like lived in you know what I mean it had to feel natural you know even to the designs of the blankets and who the people were standing in the background with vertical lines this way horizontal that way those colors not those colors everything we could think of um and that's why to to a certain extent we begin with the pipe person pipe is a person and it's got power and now that power is going to be people don't know how to use that power we have to bury it it's not going to lose its power I don't think but the new ones are not going to know because the whites have come in and changed everything and so that pipe has to be buried in a beautiful ceremony you know I mean right there as well I'm in it you know so I'm sorry if I didn't get to too much detail there Chief but I think you could give a little more you can give a little more detail as to when we got together and uh well actually um I want to go back a little bit oh yes okay to wear an um imperative purchased I understand the purchase the rights to the book by David Graham and we were talking to some of your representatives and expressing our concern that we did not want to uh uh lose our voice in the story and eventually when your team members some of your team members came and participated in some sort of prayer services that we had and dinner I remember some imperatives standing up and saying we will make a movie the Osage will be proud of and then also that sticks with us is the statement we are going to tell this story Through The Eyes of Molly from that moment on we thought well this is a different group and as we developed over the years remember we had the pandemic in between and and that everybody had to pull back and then re-engage we just picked right up with our language and culture people that that Mr Scorsese said first of all we're going to film here we're going to film with the Osage we're going to invite Osage to come in not only on extras but there are there are young Osage working behind the cameras uh in cinematography with world-class people and in costume or people are were employed in making the costumes and and and the song and and so forth and then when you see the movie uh you see our language which is endangered but you see our language spoken here and you can probably talk about a better Osage in some of our own stage right because you know I was sitting next to Mr dinero last night and uh I I got very excited about some of his Osage but I I remember talking to Van big horse our language coordinator he's morning coordinator he's the Secretary of language education and culture talking to van and talking to my senior advisor John films who unfortunately passed away and they've made friendships between us all about how it is being done there on the set and they impressed upon me how hard these actors worked how hard they worked how serious this business is to them and for a citizen outside of this world we get our own conceptions preconceptions about what is involved and maybe thinking oh well Bob De Niro just wakes up and naturally it's everything comes right out but my my team and my people expressed to me these are very hard-working people and they had on in in their minds and with them physically my people working with them men and women young and old working with them and they responded and it's just beautiful they they could make two of these movies I I have to say to uh the uh the sequence I described about the pipe comes from the uh a beautiful book called the pipe for February by Charles redcorn which we hope to get made into a film too that one tells a lot more from an Osage perspective watching what the reign of terror does from when the mystery starts to when you start losing family uh the inner relationships of these interracial marriages from an Osage perspective um yeah all of it it's seek it out it's a beautiful book beautiful Mr De Niro how was it to a get inside this culture but then because of a character you have to keep a step back and be a how did you keep this balance is this what you do is extraordinary MSA well I don't you know I I I I I don't uh I don't understand how my character I I don't understand a lot about him yeah because I I'm that's I don't understand it but you know people do things he has to be Charming he has to win people over he has to do things to get them why he betrays them in this way I have no I it's all I can do is try my best to he has an action and attention goes from here to here to here it does that with the people and I think part of it with him I guess is sincere it's just the other part where he's betraying them uh there's a kind of a feeling of entitlement that's it's almost I guess you could say it's um we became a lot more aware of after George Floyd um with um systemic racism and so that's what it is and lo and behold what happened there that we never knew of while we were there was the Black Wall Street Massacre why were we shooting again while we were shooting um so um it it's the banality of evil it's the the thing that we have to watch out for and we see it today of course with we all know who I'm going to talk about but I won't say the name because that guy is stupid imagine if you're smart even hell yeah hell it was Smart in many ways and and um so it's it's it's something that is systemic and that's the scary part about it I'm reading a book now called rat line it's about the the Nazis that were trying to get back through to South America here and they're hiding out in Rome and so on in Italy it's fascinating but it's the whole it's just well it's interesting it's just the whole thing is it's there and you've got to really uh keep your eye on it again it's about it's about a kind of superiority yeah you know the Third Reich superiority the Masters the masters of I may love them but you know I'm superior to them so they're going to die anyway I mean that's the thinking yeah I guess he felt he was loved by the people and some people probably did love him not looking at the other side I still don't understand certain places I don't know I've heard there was some Osage that were at his funeral that's right yeah believed until the day he died yeah and after that he was their friend that he wasn't guilty of what he was charged of there you go I mean look with Trump that people well you said it you say I hate to say it don't hit it you can I hate to say we we see what that is it's like and there are people who think that he could do a good job imagine that it's how insane that is that's all I'll say all right we got ta extend over there gentleman's butcher Marcus hi uh my name is Marcus work for one press tv from Sweden first one says really great honor to have you here Martin's Gracie Robert De Niro you've been working together for decades and uh maybe many people for that Irishman was your last Masterpiece together and now you're giving us another great movie together Robert De Niro I want to ask you a question um what do you thought about the project when Martin's Gracie told you about it and Leia was mentioning he was in part of like creating his uh character a little bit did you have any flexibility to be part of creating your character as well responsibility in creating the character itself yes myself I have the response yes did you have any did I yeah yeah we worked on it we worked on it and and then I was I read the book when I was told about it and wanted to read it anyway of course and and then I um then Leo and Marty told me that they were gonna do it in another way more about the relationship of of um the uncle Hale my character and and Ernest Leo's character that made a lot of sense to me and I said whatever you do great I'm in you know of course and um it is much better it's the book is terrific the way it is but what the uh Leo and Marty wanted to steer it in as he is even more uh a better choice for this material especially it's not that you want the good guy to come in and save the day we know that story we've done it we've had traditionally have done movies over the years where the good guy goes down south and Saves the Day the good guy goes into the the the uh any indigenous area saves the day this is and that's all valid for the the the FBI and telling that part of the story but this is much more much more important if I could say that we have a question in the corner over there hello Micah hello Michael Kronberg from Germany from TV movie I have a question for Leonardo DiCaprio from your point of view as an actor and as a movie lover yourself what makes Martin Scorsese the greatest of all time yeah guys [Applause] [Laughter] tonight I denied uh well without question uh I don't I can only speak from a personal perspective having grown up watching the two of them uh from a cinematic perspective how it not only influenced everything that I do as an actor the hot the incredibly high levels of artistry that they've been able to accomplish together in that relationship not only changed me it was it was the template for me it it influenced the entire generation of of actors that I grew up with and what can I say is that there that Marty's perseverance and his his ferocity and wanting to tell the truth about these stories no matter how ugly no matter how bizarre no matter how uncomfortable is is his Mastery and his his respect for Cinemas history what's been done before him the influence of the great directors from his past that have made him the director that he is um is is just unparalleled he's and he's been able to Define himself as these singular director of our of our time and he's continuing to make these Incredible movies that tell important stories like like this film I'm like all of you I'm just constantly in in awe of his ability to continue telling the truth the way he does with his characters and with his stories all right thank you the international news network Deutsche Valley and my question is for Martinez Scorsese and the actors for what I know you start shooting this film in 2021 that means in the middle of the pandemic so I would like to know how uh covid-19 affected they shouldn't if that if that happened working conditions um masks um uh masks on masks off uh and uh everyone was vaccinated um we had um don't forget there was a a year and a half I lost up from covet where we stopped working on the script but everything stopped so I just kept working on the script um and we had planned this picture back I think actually we planned to do it before Irishman at one point and then you said oh no the Irishman we already have to we have to uh do the CGI de-aging it's going to get worse if we lay wait later you're right so we did Irishman first and we were still working on this um and so uh the covet I must say uh you know uh Adam Adam sum those are our co-producer and Dan Lupi is a a producer here and um Bradley and everybody they I didn't feel as much of of um a disturbance in terms of like not being able to do certain things uh because of the covet restrictions we worked with them very well I thought all you guys did beautifully I just followed what you guys told me to do on that I just have to really quickly also thank the Osage Nation for vaccinating people I was going to second that Osage Nation yes they were thrilled to see the stars they vaccinated us yeah yeah Osage tribal Health Clinic was uh was a star-studded place to be for a minute there hello I'm Ananda bakra from the Republic of Georgia um I can't believe that I'm talking to you now uh well the story you told us I mean the story of Osage people reminded me about every Injustice happening now around us and I think that people um speak less and less about the war in Ukraine and I would kindly like to ask you about your opinion what is happening now in Ukraine and about Russian aggression thank you this is a question for um for um for Mr Scorsese well obviously um uh very very nervous about the the aggression of of Russia very nervous about that whole area I look at the I look at one has to remember everyone's too old now with people gone but people seem to be our generate the younger Generations don't remember World War II and they don't remember the Balkan Nations and what happened there and what happened with Poland and between the Russians and the Germans and what happened with Poland in the 18th century with Napoleon and uh so so and the Russians again so this is an area that's always being contested my feeling is coming from a country of uh being used to a system of a system of government which as a republic involves Free Speech involves uh you know you can have an advert adversary without poisoning or killing them this is the you know this is the one to avoid you don't want to live like that you know you may live in another culture like in Western culture and the Western culture has it's it's uh its detriment it has its negative things too it's consumerism uh the value of everything in terms of money is most important and shouldn't be and um yet um I still feel there is a sense we have to support the countries that at least they're trying for some sort of democratic process because it reminds me of the period reading in the history reminds you the period of the 1930s where democracy was out everything was advocating pure fascism and communism and that was it and uh and now um it's deeper and stronger I think because I do with the very values of how you live what's important to you in life and I got to tell you I think freedom to speak is the most important really um and that doesn't mean you know yelling fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire okay that's the old cliche but it's true um uh but freedom freedom uh to be able to express yourself and to live a life that's somewhat life is hard enough at times and it's joyful but it's hard but you know uh that's benign in peaceful times that is all the time we have so Madame they miss you thank you very much thank you so much [Applause] thank you

Channel: Festival de Cannes

Views: 1,074,280

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Id: WjTLEfFuPeM

Length: 37min 35sec (2255 seconds)

Published: Sun May 21 2023