Killers of the Flower Moon: Film script changed after arguments between Leonardo DiCaprio and writer

Actor demanded different role in Martin Scorsese movie

The script for Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon is undergoing continuous edits due to arguments between Leonardo DiCaprio and writer Eric Roth.

Speaking on the Script Notes podcast, Roth, who is adapting David Grann’s 2017 book, said: “Leonardo wanted some things changed that we argued about. He won half of [the arguments]. I won half of them. So that’s happening.”  

He added: “I spent four or five years on this book, Killers of the Flower Moon, which everybody should read. It’s a wonderful book. My screenplay I think was accurate to the book. It’s the story of Osage Indians, 1921, the poorest people in America who discover oil in this terrible land in Oklahoma where they’ve been driven to.

“Then every killer in America comes to kill 184 of them for their money, but this really heroic guy comes in [to help].”

In May, The Hollywood Reporter published a story detailing how DiCaprio’s requested re-writes led to Paramount Pictures’ decision to sell the film to Apple.  

It has been reported that in Roth’s original version of the film, DiCaprio was cast as the hero, a federal agent who goes to the Osage Nation to solve a series of murders. However, DiCaprio want to play the nephew of the villainous killer, played by Robert De Niro, instead.

A source told The Hollywood Reporter: “Paramount felt that turned the film into a moody and less commercial character study.”

The film, which has been delayed due to coronavirus, is set to begin shooting in the spring of 2021.

In September, DiCaprio talked about how his greatest performances have been delivered under the guidance of Scorsese.

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The pair have a total of five collaborations thus far, with a sixth and seventh officially on the way.

“As a young actor standing beside him during the creative process of making a movie, I discovered that just like a painting, a sculpture, music or theatre, film was just as essential, relevant, as a matter of fact, the most integral art form of our time,” DiCaprio said.