Leonardo DiCaprio has appeared in several of Martin Scorsese's movies, but he’s not exempt from criticism from the famed director.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal magazine on Oct. 18 ahead of the release of the film adaption of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the 80-year-old director recalled how two of the film’s stars, DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, had different acting styles that required a delicate balance.
Scorsese described the juxtaposition between De Niro, who was more brief, and DiCaprio, who the director said was “endless, endless, endless” in his improv in scenes with the iconic actor.
“Then Bob didn’t want to talk,” Scorsese explained. “Every now and then, Bob and I would look at each other and roll our eyes a little bit. And we’d tell him, ‘You don’t need that dialogue.’”
The film follows the true story of the Reign of Terror on the Osage Nation in the early 1900s when dozens of members of the community were murdered or died under mysterious circumstances after oil was discovered on their land in Oklahoma.
In “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which included input from members of the Osage community behind-the-scenes, De Niro portrayed William Hale, the uncle of DiCaprio’s character, a World War I veteran named Ernest Burkhart.
Burkhart marries a wealthy member of Osage Nation, a woman named Mollie, who is portrayed by Lily Gladstone. Over time, members of Mollie’s family begin to die in a series of horrific ways, including her mother and sisters.
In a May 2023 interview with Deadline, Scorsese elaborated on the differences between both actor’s processes and his varied approach to working with De Niro and DiCaprio.
While he and De Niro have a type of “shorthand” after working on multiple movies including “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas,” he said “there’s no shorthand” with DiCaprio, only “longhand.”
“We hang out and talk and get all kinds of research,” he explained. “I give him stuff to read, and music. He’s very good with music.”
Scorsese said that DiCaprio pushed him to consider him for the role of Ernest Burkhar rather than Tom White, an investigator who was ultimately portrayed by Jesse Plemmons.
“He wanted to go into that uncharted territory,” Scorsese explained. “That’s the excitement. We did, and it’s hours and hours and days of work. On set. On the weekends. The film was day and night. Same with Bob, to a certain extent.”
David Grann, the author of the movie’s source material “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” spoke to TODAY.com about DiCaprio’s research process, sharing that he was “so impressed” with the Oscar-winning actor.
“I really was, because he really is an artist and he was so devoted to figuring out the role and understanding who this person was,” Grann explained. “I was just so struck by his devotion and his dedication to his art. To watch how he developed and worked to embody this very complicated and quite dark character, I found it really revelatory and I was just so deeply impressed.”