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Martin Scorsese unveils the first footage from his film Killers of the Flower Moon at CinemaCon

Martin Scorsese premiered the first footage of his film Killers of the Flower Moon at CinemaCon, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Rihanna made surprise appearances. The film, Scorsese’s sixth with DiCaprio and tenth with Robert De Niro, is a true story set in the 1920s and tells of the mysterious murders and disappearances of members of the newly oil-rich Osage Nation in Oklahoma. The film’s twisty crime drama, adapted from David Grann’s acclaimed 2017 non-fiction book of the same name, is set to hit theatres in October and will premiere at next month’s Cannes film festival.

The footage shown at the industry summit in Las Vegas featured DiCaprio’s character, Ernest Burkhart, in a romantic relationship with a Native American woman while caught in the middle of brutal conflict between the Osage and oil-hungry white capitalists. De Niro plays William Hale, who conspires with Burkhart, while Jesse Plemons plays lawman Tom White sent from the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the murders.

Originally, DiCaprio was set to play White, but after spending time with the Osage, he and Scorsese decided to make a ‘big change’ to the script and center the movie less on the FBI and instead on Burkhart. The film was shot at true locations where the grisly events took place, and Scorsese said the script was reworked until the last day of shooting as he spent time with the Osage people and was anxious to ‘do right by them.’

Killers of the Flower Moon will be Apple’s highest-profile big-screen release yet, as the tech giant launches the film in theatres to drum up interest in its Apple TV+ streaming platform. The film was bought from Hollywood studio Paramount after the cost of the production reportedly spiraled to $200 million.

Scorsese used the occasion of receiving CinemaCon’s inaugural ‘Legend of Cinema’ award to call on multiplex owners to play ‘truly independent films’ alongside more mainstream fare. Earlier in the day, Paramount presented footage from other upcoming films, including Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which features a more diverse cast.

Rihanna also made an appearance at CinemaCon, where she announced her newly acquired role in The Smurf Movie, in which she will voice Smurfette and produce the film’s original music. Rihanna, who is pregnant with her second child, joked that playing an animated character means she can show up in her pajamas and still play a ‘boo badass.’

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