Trivia / Killers of the Flower Moon

• Actor-Shared Background: Both Tom White and Jesse Plemons are from Texas.
• Acclaimed Flop: The movie received universal acclaim and many major awards, but failed to recoup the $200 million budget.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: “Can you find the wolves in this picture?” is frequently quoted as “Can you spot the wolves in this picture?”
• Box Office Bomb: Budget: $200 million, Box Office: $67,815,000 (Domestic), $156,815,000 (Worldwide). That simulation is similar to another Apple's theatrical film, Napoleon (2023). See here for the aftermath opinion.
• Dawson Casting:
  • 48-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, who was in his late twenties at the time of the Osage murders.
  • Robert De Niro who was 79 at the time of filming, plays William Hale who was in his late 40s to 50s when the events took place.
• Posthumous Credit: Robbie Robertson (Mohawk), who did the score, died on August 9, 2023, about two months after its Cannes debut but about two months before its official release.
• Production Posse: The latest of Martin Scorsese's many collaborations with both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as De Niro and DiCaprio's first movie since Marvin's Room in 1996 and the first time that all three are working on a feature-length film together (they had previously starred in the short film "The Audition" together, also directed by Scorsese). It's also the final work in his longrunning collaboration with Robbie Robertson of The Band, which started with the documentary about the band The Last Waltz.
• Throw It In!:
  • Word of God says Chief Bonnicastle and Paul Red Eagle's lengthy diatribe in the round hut was unscripted. Yancey Red Corn and Everett Waller were having the same conversation between takes and Scorsese decided to include it in the film (hence their use of the term "genocide" 20 years before the word was coined).
  • Word of God says "I don't know what you said, but it must've been Indian for 'handsome devil'" was a Leonardo DiCaprio adlib, and Mollie's laugh was Lily Gladstone's genuine response.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Leonardo DiCaprio was originally slated to play Tom White, the FBI agent who was the lead investigator of the murders, but he pushed to play Ernest Burkhart instead. DiCaprio was then cast as Ernest and Jesse Plemons was cast as White.
  • An earlier draft of the script had the film take place from Tom White's perspective as he investigated the murders among the Osage Nation. The story was later rewritten to downgrade White to a supporting role in favor of focusing on Ernest Burkhart and his Osage wife Mollie, as Scorsese was concerned that his original screenplay had too much of a White Savior narrative.

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