Martin Scorsese Tells True Story of Money and Murder in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Trailer

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, out on October 20, details a true story of American greed based on David Grann’s best-selling book. In the film’s first official full-length trailer, Leonardo DiCaprio yet again finds himself one-half of a star-crossed couple in his portrayal of Ernest Burkhart alongside Lily Gladstone as Mollie Kyle, a member of the Native American Osage Nation.

Believed to have inherited a valueless and barren stretch of land in America, the Osage Nation struck gold — or rather oil — and saw their lives change overnight. At the turn of the 20th century, they became some of the richest people, not just in America, but in the world. And as history goes, white men couldn’t help but insert themselves into something that had nothing to do with them, willing to ruin or end any lives that stepped in their way.

“They outsmarted everybody,” William Hale, portrayed by Robert De Niro, tells Burkhart. “Money flows freely here now. This wealth should come to us. Their time is over.” As word continues to spread about the Osage Nation’s immense wealth, more outsiders made their way into their community with plans to manipulate, extort, and steal their way to the top.

When they realized no one was going to go down without a fight, they shifted their tactics to fear: murdering so many tribe members that FBI director J. Edger Hoover sent the former Texas Ranger Tom White (Jesse Plemons) from Washington D.C. to Oklahoma to investigate. All the while, Burkhart played into both sides, continuing his romance with Kyle even as her loved ones were killed in cold blood over money that even he wanted to get his hands on.

Killers of the Flower Moon marks Scorsese’s first narrative feature since The Irishman in 2019. The Apple Studios film also stars John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion.