Leonardo DiCaprio has nothing but praise for Lily Gladstone, the breakout star of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
In the movie, DiCaprio and Gladstone depict the true story of Ernest and Mollie Burkhart, a married couple residing on the Osage Reservation during the turbulent 1920s in Oklahoma. Notably, Gladstone, who is of Native American descent, hails from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation situated near the Montana-Canada border.
“Lily is absolutely astonishing in this movie,” DiCaprio stated in his interview with British Vogue for its October cover story featuring both DiCaprio and Gladstone. “She carries the entire film and the story.” he added.
DiCaprio, who has collaborated with Scorsese on six films, shared his thoughts on their initial virtual meeting with Gladstone. “There was no reading,” DiCaprio reminisced. “Marty just instinctively knew Lily was the one.” He then turned to Gladstone and remarked, “There was a truthfulness in your eyes that he saw even over a computer screen.”
"Lily is absolutely astonishing in this movie…she carries the entire film and the story." – Leonardo DiCaprio pic.twitter.com/BJwZ4mFJnm
— Apple Original Films (@AppleFilms) September 19, 2023
“I’ve never known [Scorsese] meet somebody and then immediately afterwards have this gravitational pull and instinct to say, ‘Let’s not wait another minute,‘” DiCaprio added.
Scorsese previously shared his thoughts on Gladstone with Deadline earlier this year: “Lily had her own thoughts. She has an intelligence and a groundedness about her, in her mind and heart. It’s almost instinctual.”
Scorsese and DiCaprio encouraged Gladstone to explore the ethical dimensions of the narrative.
“Marty and Leo had conversations with me about what the nature of evil is, and how evil doesn’t see itself as evil,” she recollects. “Can somebody really love and honor another, feel all these things in one aspect of their psyche, and then turn around and do all of these other hateful, evil, entitled things? The tightrope walk was exploring the relationship between Ernest and Mollie.”
The film, adapted from David Grann’s 2009 book titled “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” features an ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, and Tantoo Cardinal. It revolves around the FBI’s probe into a series of Osage people murders occurring in Oklahoma during the early 1920s.
Following some initial script adjustments, Scorsese made the decision to place Lily Gladstone’s character, Mollie, at the forefront of the film.
“We weren’t immersed in the Osage story,” DiCaprio explained. “There was this tiny, small scene between Mollie and Ernest that provoked such emotion in us at the reading, and we just started to penetrate into what that relationship was, because it was so twisted and bizarre and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
Apple, in collaboration with Paramount, is set to release the film globally in theaters on October 20.
Leo + Lily.
Killers of the Flower Moon. pic.twitter.com/JMRy2pst9W
— Apple Original Films (@AppleFilms) September 19, 2023
