Martin Scorsese unveiled the first footage from his film “Killers of the Flower Moon” Thursday at CinemaCon, where his lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio and pop superstar Rihanna were among the surprise guests.

Dark Western “Killers” is Scorsese’s sixth movie with DiCaprio, and his 10th with Robert De Niro — but the first time the legendary director has ever brought his go-to A-listers together.

A true story of greed, love and murder set in the 1920s, when members of the newly oil-rich Osage Nation in Oklahoma began dying and disappearing in mysterious circumstances, the twisty crime drama hits theaters in October.

Footage played at the movie industry summit in Las Vegas showed DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart in a romantic relationship with a Native American woman (Lily Gladstone) while seemingly caught in the middle of brutal conflict between the Osage and encircling oil-hungry white capitalists.

De Niro plays William Hale, who is seen conspiring with Burkhart, while Jesse Plemons appears as 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.

Scorsese said they were interested in exploring how “some of these people could have done what they did” to the Osage, and how they could rationalize violence — even against those they loved — by simply claiming: “It’s civilization. One group comes in, and another goes out.”

DiCaprio, hosting a Q&A with Scorsese, described the movie’s events as a “forgotten part of our past.”

Source: philstar.com