Extensive rewrites can often hinder a film’s quality but it most probably won’t be the case for Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming film, Killers of the Flower Moon. Currently rated at an impressive 97% on the Tomatometer, it’s reasonable to assume that the upcoming drama might end up being one the best releases of the year, which won’t be surprising following the names attached to it.
However, developing Killers of the Flower Moon was far from smooth, as the Goodfellas director recently revealed that the script for the upcoming drama underwent massive rewrites.
Killers of the Flower Moon underwent rewrites following Martin Scorsese’s concerns
Like any of his other projects, Martin Scorsese alongside everyone involved in the film was extremely passionate about delivering justice to David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book. But after reaching a certain point with his script, the Taxi Driver director wasn’t sold on the perspective of FBI agents taking the spotlight with their investigations.
“After a certain point, I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys,” Scorsese told Time Magazine. “Meaning I was taking the approach from the outside in, which concerned me.”
This resulted in Scorsese and his co-writer Eric Roth dropping the perspective from the angle of the FBI investigations of a series of murders of Osage people in Oklahoma. Leonardo DiCaprio, who was originally set to play FBI agent Tom White, was recast into the role of Ernest Burkhart, making the bond between Burkhart and his wife Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) the core of the film.
The change in script helped Lily Gladstone secure the job
With the film now focused on Kyle and Burkhart’s bond, Lily Gladstone alongside Leonardo DiCaprio is set to do the heavy lifting, and per early reviews, it does appear that she nailed the character. However, earning the role wasn’t easy for the actress, as initially, Gladstone thought she blew the opportunity after struggling with the three pages of dialogues in her first audition. Fortunately, the Certain Women Star got another opportunity, which involved minimal dialogues, and she didn’t let it slide. Talking to Interview Magazine, she said,
“Before the rewrites, I had three pages of some pretty mouthy dialogue. But I was struggling so much with the scenes that when COVID shut everything down and the project went quiet for a minute, I assumed that I’d blown the audition. About a year later, I got a request to Zoom with Martin Scorsese. And then I got new sides sent to me that had beats. Suddenly it was a scene that had minimal dialogue…And I was like, ‘Oh man, I can plug a character in here now. This is amazing.’”
While in most cases, the news of rewrites might’ve had fans worried about the end result, in Killers of the Flower Moon‘s case, fans are assured Scorsese will hit it out of the park like he always does.
Killers of the Flower Moon will hit theatres on 20 October 2023.
Source: Time Magazine
