Martin Scorsese: ‘Robert De Niro is the only one who really knows where I come from’

In a global press conference for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese talks about accurately representing the Osage community, how his relationships with long-term collaborators Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio have evolved, and more

Martin Scorsese’s energy is still infectious. 

Talking to us virtually, the 80-year-old filmmaking legend’s responses to our questions are deep, measured, and full of sparkling insight. After six decades of enthralling audiences worldwide with a prolific oeuvre that few can rival — and tackling everything from gangsters and mobsters to epic biopics and Wall Street stockbrokers — he now takes on a western crime saga set in the 1920s.

Based on a real-life story, Killers of the Flower Moon is a crime-thriller narrated through the romance between Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone). 

Adapted from David Grann’s bestselling book, the film traces the horrific Oklahoma murders of several members of the Osage Nation — after oil was discovered underneath their land – making these Native Americans living there some of the richest people in the world overnight. It also follows one of the earliest homicide cases the FBI ever took on when the organisation was first created by J. Edward Hoover. 

With a screenplay by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, the project also brings Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro together on-screen for the first time in 30 years since their first collaboration in This Boy’s Life (1993).

It’s perhaps surprising that the visionary has only won one Academy Award for Best Director — for The Departed in 2007. However, that might change as the critical acclaim for Killers of the Flower Moon has already made Scorsese an early favourite at the awards circuit next year.

Excerpts from the interaction: