Paramount has closed the deal to finance and distribute Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming movie adaptation of the book ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ reports Deadline. Paramount chief Jim Gianopulos announced the news during a film slate presentation to European exhibitors at CineEurope in Barcelona on Wednesday. Martin Scorsese will reportedly direct the film while Leonardo DiCaprio is set to play the lead role in the murder mystery.
Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas of Imperative Entertainment acquired the project for a whopping deal of $5M in 2016. Friedkin and Thomas produce the movie in association with Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff’s Sikelia Productions and DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions.
Written by the American journalist David Grann, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is a non-fiction book that investigates a series of brutal murders in Osage County, Oklahoma in the early ‘20s. The horrible chain of murders triggered when Osage Indians obtained the rights to their land that was exploited by oil companies. Apart from the wealthy Osage landowners, the investigators were also get murdered in mysterious ways. The oil money was everywhere, corrupting the system from its roots while the unsolved murder mystery came to the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation. Eric Roth is set to adapt the book for the movie.
Martin Scorsese’s next movie, ‘The Irishman’ is expected to be released by Netflix in fall 2019. The movie features an ensemble cast that includes Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Anna Paquin. The streaming giant has also hinted that there will be a limited theatrical release for the movie apart from streaming.
The plot follows a mobster who recounts his possible part in the mysterious case of Jimmy Hoffa who was a rising labor union leader and the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union. He disappeared without a trace on in July 1975 and was never found.
On the other hand, DiCaprio is all set to hit the screens with the all-star ensemble ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ directed by Quentin Tarantino. The long-awaited movie garnered rave reviews after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Set in the backdrop of Hollywood of the ‘60s, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, and Al Pacino. ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is slated for a July 26, 2019 release.
Cover Image Courtesy: Columbia Pictures (Django Unchained)
