The Cannes Film Festival confirmed this morning that Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon will get its world premiere on the Croisette on Saturday, May 20, in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
One of this year’s most anticipated movies, the Apple charge long has been considered a likely Cannes contender (we first broke news last summer that this was the likely route for the film, followed by a theatrical run). The pic will play in Official Selection, but it’s not clear yet whether it will play in Competition — that will become clear at the festival’s press conference in mid-April.
Treading the red carpet will be Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, Tantoo Cardinal, and more.
Based on David Grann’s best-selling book and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the “Reign of Terror.”
An Apple Original Film, Killers will first be released exclusively in theaters, in partnership with Paramount Pictures, limited on Friday, October 6, and wide on Friday, October 20, in the U.S. The French release is set for October 18. It then will stream globally on Apple TV+. As we reported this week, the film will need to respect France’s strict chronology rules.
Producers are Scorsese, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas and Daniel Lupi, with DiCaprio, Rick Yorn, Adam Somner, Marianne Bower, Lisa Frechette, John Atwood, Shea Kammer and Niels Juul serving as executive producers.
Director Scorsese was awarded the Palme d’Or in 1976 for Taxi Driver, which was presented in Competition. He subsequently came back to the Official Selection on a regular basis and won the Best Director Award for After Hours, 10 years after the success of Taxi Driver. In 1998, he was the President of the Jury that presented the Palme d’Or to Greek director Theo Angelopoulos for Eternity and a Day.
Among other movies expected to play at this year’s Cannes Film Festival are Disney’s Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Here and here are some other buzzy movies we hear could be in the mix. The lineup is expected to be revealed on April 13 in Paris, though the festival has not confirmed that date.
