Finally, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-awaited Killers of the Flower Moon is set to have its world premiere at Cannes later this week. But before that happens, a new teaser has dropped for the true-crime film about one of the most notorious murder cases in history, and the investigation that became key to the formation of the FBI.
Adapted from David Grann’s book, which is fantastic by the way, the film centers on the mysterious murders of oil-rich Osaga Nation members in 1920s Oklahoma. The killings became known as the “Reign of Terror”, and launched an expansive investigation that put to the test J. Edgar Hoover’s newly-formed FBI.
DiCaprio leads the cast as Ernest Burkhart, with Robert De Niro as prominent local businessman William Hale, Lily Gladstone as Osage Nation member and potential target Mollie Burkhart, with Jesse Plemons as former Texas Ranger Tom White.
Killers of the Flower Moon will hit theaters on October 6th, with a wide release set for October 20th from Apple and Paramount.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
