One would assume a Martin Scorsese movie — sorry, “picture” — starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro would be a no-brainer, especially after last year’s The Irishman (to say nothing of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). But Hollywood isn’t known for making sense. Recently it was reported that the filmmaker’s next project, Killers of the Flower Moon, was having trouble getting an official go after losing original distributor, Paramount Pictures. But after shopping it around town, reports Deadline, Scorsese is back at Paramount with help from Apple.
Scorsese, who reportedly got $150 million from Netflix to make The Irishman, is again asking for a comic book movie-sized budget, between $180 million and $200 million. When Paramount — possibly un-easy about forking over that much dough for a non-franchise product — balked at the price, the legendary filmmaker was courted by all the majors, as well as Netflix. He wound up getting the cash from Apple, while Paramount Pictures will distribute to theaters that will presumably be open by the time Scorsese has wrapped. (Netflix, rather infamously, did not give The Irishman a wide theatrical release, with most of its viewers watching it at home.)
Killers of the Flower Moon is adapted from the David Grann book of the same title — a mystery about a series of murders amongst wealthy Osage Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma, which investigation led to the establishment of the FBI. DiCaprio and De Niro would play two of the leads, the former reuniting with the director for the first time since 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street. For De Niro it would be his ninth go; The Irishman was in fact his first collaboration with the noted comic book movie critic since 1995’s Casino. As for the two actors, it will be their third movie together, after 1993’s This Boy’s Life and Marvin’s Room from 1996.
(Via Deadline)
