Leonardo DiCaprio & Lily Gladstone on Martin Scorsese's obsession with 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone spoke about their experiences working with Martin Scorsese on the highly anticipated film ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ in a recent interview. DiCaprio described the film as one of the most important he’s ever worked on, and discussed Scorsese’s obsessive dedication to telling the story in the best possible way. The duo also spoke about the challenge of portraying a genuine connection between their characters and the responsibility they felt in accurately portraying the twisted love story at the center of the film. Gladstone revealed that her portrayal of Molly was heavily influenced by the community on set and the importance of representing Osage women in a way that paid homage to the Golden Age of cinema. Scorsese expressed his own feelings of immersion and pride in the film, describing it as a truly special experience. The highly anticipated film, based on the novel by David Grann, promises to be a powerful and impactful addition to Scorsese’s renowned body of work.
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– [Interviewer] If you had one word to sum up your award season so far, what would it be? – Ffuleah. – That’s not really a word. – It’s a word in some circles. – Oh, in some places, okay. – In some places. I mean, Marty, you hired me because I’m good at the non-verbal acting. – No, you’re really good, yeah. – That’s, that counts. (smooth guitar music)
– No, that’s true, I’m not saying, I just, I’m wondering, (Lily laughing) you said one word, so it’s gonna be one of those interviews that’re gonna be tricky. – Ah. – I certainly feel like it’s one of the most important films I’ve ever worked on. Marty’s different ways in different films, he sort of takes on the pathos of this story in a lot of ways. And in this movie, he looked me in the eyes, it was a quiet moment, he said,
“I feel this story in my bones, it’s in me. I have to tell it right.” And he literally locked himself up in Oklahoma for eight months, and was obsessive about forensically getting to the truth of who these characters were, how to tell this story the right way.
And you know, I felt like he took a great responsibility in telling this story the best he possibly could, I’ve never quite seen that. And he’s always obsessed about making a great movie, but this one in particular was sort of different level. – I don’t know what you said, but it must’ve been Indian for handsome devil. – Hey, shit. (both laughing) – It’s hard to explain how you find chemistry between two actors, (tense guitar music) your scene partner, it’s just, it’s there or it’s not.
– I think we kinda discovered it as it went along- – Yeah. – In a lot of ways. I mean, there’s the underlying story of deception that is occurring, (tense guitar music) but we knew the meeting between these two had to be organic, and tangible, and real,
And there had to be a connection, because frankly, that’s what the Osage community kept telling us adamantly. (tense guitar music) These two people- – Yeah. – Did fall in love, they did meet each other. It became incredibly corrupt, and twisted, and one of the most (tense guitar music) twisted love stories I’ve ever
Come across in my entire life, all true. And so, the challenge was, you know, how much she knew I was complicit, how complicit I was at every moment. (tense guitar music) And that’s something I think the three of us kept toying with and talking about, and doing multiple versions of, because-
– Mm. – We ultimately didn’t know how much Marty, I think Marty, I’m not speaking for him, (tense guitar music) but how much he wanted to divulge the backstory to the audience while we’re making the movie. – Yeah, I feel like the complicity is in the narrative,
And if you’re playing (tense guitar music) the complicity, then it doesn’t work. – Right. – You play the love, And the complicity, and the betrayal comes out of what is built with the love there. – What I saw Lily do in, let’s say certain women, for example. – Do you happen to know anyone in town that could teach this class? – I don’t know anyone at all. (laughs) – And how she commanded the space of the screen, and the emotional impact of what appears to be a kind of a minimal movement, you know? It was very internal. And that’s who, ah, that’s what I thought I was looking for in terms of Molly. We had just started really developing Molly,
And I felt that Lily had, in her, that she would seriously find her, so that we’d all sort of do it together, you know? – My process for everything (tense guitar music) that I do, when the camera’s rolling, when I’m in character, that’s who I am.
I, if I stay there, I start spending it away from screen. I spend it off camera, (tense guitar music) so I, I’m precious with it. Like, the time that I’m with the character is the time that I’m with the other characters. When the camera’s not rolling, and we’re in between,
Then I just, I need to take the character off, and be Lily. (tense guitar music) I need to be silly if I’m doing drama. (laughs) A big part of how I found Molly was in the community, and the community was on set with us. There were over 200 (tense guitar music) different tribal nations represented on set. I needed to experience that as Lily. And it was so important, because that’s what created the community,
And that’s what really drove (tense guitar music) the tragedy of it. I feel like, Marty, a lot of the things that you’ve expressed about working on this film, and working there, (Martin mmhmms) it was a transformative experience- – And it was. – Being in community like that. – Marty gave me the framework and the inspiration early on through “The Heiress,” and Olivia de Havilland’s work. And I saw that as a real opportunity to fix a native woman into the golden age of cinema, and this great leading lady, which we were excluded from.
So, it was a dual charge playing an Osage woman the way the community was telling me Osage women conducted themselves then. Osage women carried themselves as if they were in the royal family, and it really lends itself to that golden age cinema leading lady. I felt like it was a really important opportunity
To show that that’s who native women are. Oh, those were the role models our grandparents’ generations had when we were being told that being Indian wasn’t right, you know, being who we were culturally wasn’t who we were supposed to be, you know? Exalt and lift up the Elizabeth Taylors of the world,
The Lauren Bacalls, the Olivia de Havillands. It felt like a real opportunity to balance those things, and fix where we’ve always belonged. (thumping folk music) – They’re like buzzards circling our people. ♪ Hey ♪ – We’re still warriors. ♪ Hey ♪ – Every film is not for every person, you know,
Every novel is not for every person, every reader, I mean, every painting isn’t, so, I don’t know if it’s something that would be, you know, universally accepted, but it felt right. This one felt right. And I felt that while I was watching it, I felt I was inside it, and I’d made it. – Yeah. – It was a big difference. When I watched it again, and particularly when my, I screened the mix. ‘Cause now you’re working on the mix,
You’re working on the sound of a car, you’re working on the dialogue, you’re going, oh, you’re like this, you’re like this, you’re like this. And then suddenly, you’re like, now we gotta look at the whole thing. I said, wow, it’s got all, it’s a long one too. I don’t know, you know? Instead, I watched the movie. I watched a movie, you know? And I made it. I’m not kidding, it’s like one of those things, and sometimes, you know, you make something, and you know, that sequence, let’s move on, you know? – Yeah. – This was, somehow I got, I got immersed in it again. And then I saw it again in New York at the opening night,
And then I saw it again in Cannes. – Wow. – And I like it. I’m sorry. I do, I don’t what the hell to think. You know what I mean? – You know what, I do. – I really, I really mean, it’s like one of the- – Exactly. – It’s not ’cause you don’t like your other films. Very often, films are associated, for me, (claps hands)
They’re associated with what was going on in your life at the time, and sometimes the life, world as I know- – Right. – This was all special, and this all seemed to come together as a culmination of years ,and years, and years of work. – Mm. (smooth guitar music)
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Video “Leonardo DiCaprio & Lily Gladstone on Martin Scorsese's obsession with 'Killers of the Flower Moon'” was uploaded on 01/26/2024 to Youtube Channel Variety