What was the biggest change the film Killers of the Flower Moon made from the book?
The screenplay by Eric Roth originally hewed closer to Grann’s telling of the story, a more chronological mystery that saves the shocking reveals—particularly that Ernest, who had all the hallmarks of a devoted, protective husband, was just one of Hale’s pawns—for later.
But ultimately the writer, Scorsese and DiCaprio (who’s also an executive producer) agreed that the Osage needed to be at the center of the film, not the FBI. More than 40 roles were filled by Osage actors, and Gladstone, who grew up in Montana, is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage. DiCaprio opted to drop the role of Tom White (which went to Jesse Plemons) in favor of the more complex Ernest Burkhart.
Before the rewrite, DiCaprio told British Vogue, “It just didn’t feel like it got to the heart of it. We weren’t immersed in the Osage story. 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.”
When she got the new script, it was no longer “a white-savior story,” Gladstone told Vulture. “It’s the Osage saying, ‘Do something. Here’s money. Come help us.'”
Keep reading to see what Lily Gladstone said about her first Golden Globe nomination and more stars’ reactions:
