Killers of the Flower Moon: cast of Martin Scorsese movie with Leonardo DiCaprio - is it based on a book?

Martin Scorsese’s new crime epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this week ahead of a wider cinematic and streaming release later this year.

The movie, which stars long-time Scorcese collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, follows an FBI investigation into the murder of members of the Osage tribe in the 1920s.

Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorsese’s first feature film since The Irishman, released in 2019. It is expected to go down well with critics as Cannes, and could well be a major contender come awards season early next year.

This is everything you need to know about the crime drama, including when it will be out in cinemas and streaming platforms.

Is Killers of the Flower Moon based on a book?

The film is adapted from American journalist David Grann’s true crime novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. The book explores a major plot to murder members of the Osage tribe who had inherited oil wealth. 

The investigation was one of the biggest of the FBI’s early history, and whilst the official number of Osage members killed was listed as 20, Grann suspects that the real tally may have been in the hundreds.

The book has been adapted for the screen by Eric Roth who previously penned the film adaptations of Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Dune.

Who is in the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon?

• Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart
• Robert De Niro as William Hale
• Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart
• Jesse Plemons as Tom White
• Tantoo Cardinal as Lizzie Q
• John Lithgow as Prosecutor Leaward
• Brendan Fraser as W.S. Hamilton
• Cara Jade Myers as Anna Kyle Brown
• Janae Collins as Rita
• Jillian Dion as Minnie
• William Belleau as Henry Roan
• Jason Isbell as Bill Smith
• Scott Shepherd as Bryan Burkhart
• Louis Cancelmi as Kelsie Morrison
• Sturgill Simpson as Henry Grammer
• Tatanka Means as John Wren
• Pat Healy as John Burger
• Michael Abbott Jr. as Frank Smith

When is the release date of Killers of the Flower Moon?

Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday 20 May, playing at the Grand Théâtre Lumière from 6pm. However, it won’t arrive in cinemas until several months later.

The film will have a limited cinematic release in the UK in October 2023, an exact release date has not been confirmed, though it will land in US cinemas on 20 October. Shortly after its cinematic release, the film will be available to stream in the UK on Apple TV+.

How long is Killers of the Flower Moon?

The film is roughly 3 hrs 26 mins long, which surprisingly does not make it Scorsese’s longest film - his last feature film, The Irishman, was a whole three minutes longer.

The director is known for his sprawling, epic (read long) films - and the majority of his best known features are longer than 2.5 hours. Casino and The Wolf of Wall Street are both three hour pieces. 

The film will have a limited cinematic release later this year before it lands on Apple TV+. It’s not yet known if the film will have an intermission when it is shown in cinemas - but as last year's Avatar: The Way of the Water, which clocked in at 3hr 12, was screened in full with no breaks, it’s not guaranteed.

Is there a trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon?

Yes there is, and you can watch it right here: