Hollywood heavyweightsMartin Scorsese,Robert De NiroandLeonardo DiCaprioare possibly teaming up to make the highly-anticipated adaptationKillers Of the Flower Moon, based on the book byDavid Grannwhich will be published this week by Doubleday. The book was first picked up for a whopping $5 million by Imperative Entertainment last year, after a bidding war emerged, withLeonardo DiCapriooriginally set to produce alongsideJ.J. Abrams, but it doesn’t appear that Abrams is involved anymore. Our first report revealed that Paramount had the top bid at the time with $2 million, but they were eventually beat out by Imperative Entertainment’s $5 million bid.
Deadlinereports that no deals are in place withLeonardo DiCaprio,Robert DeNiroorMartin Scorsese, but all three parties are “seriously considering” taking on the project. Oscar-winning screenwriterEric Roth(Forrest Gump) wrote the screenplay adaptation based onDavid Grann’s book, with Imperative Entertainment partnersDan FriedkinandBradley Thomasproducing. It isn’t known what rolesLeonardo DiCaprioandRobert De Niroare eyeing, or if they are only attached as producers at this time.
The book byDavid Grannchronicles thestring of murdersthat took place in the 1920s on the Osage Indian tribe in Oklahoma, which took place shortly after oil was discovered on the Indian reservation. The indians were granted rights that gave them a percentage of the oil sales, but then several Indians started to get killed off. The case became so big that the federal government stepped in, which was one of the first major cases for the Bureau of Investigation, which was later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The case was one of the first major successes forJ. Edgar Hoover, who lead the investigation and was ultimately named the head of the FBI.
Ironically,Leonardo DiCapriohas already played the FBI head in the 2011 biopicJ. Edgar, but it seems unlikely that he would play this character once again. This project will mark the sixth collaboration betweenLeonardo DiCaprioandMartin Scorsese, followingGangs of New York,The Aviator,Shutter Island,The DepartedandThe Wolf Of Wall Street, and they are also developingThe Devil In the White City. This will also mark the 12th filmRobert De NiroandMartin Scorseseare working together on, includingThe Irishman, which is coming together at Netflix and will also starAl PacinoandJoe Pesci, marking aGoodfellasreunion.
Leonardo DiCapriois coming off his first Oscar win forThe Revenant, and hasThe Black HandandThe Ballad of Richard Jewellcurrently in pre-production.Robert De Niromost recently starred inThe Comedian, and he has a number of projects in development includingThe War With Grandpa, an untitledEdgardo Mortatoproject for directorBaltasar Kormákurand another untitled project from directorJonathan Jakubowicz, which reunites him with hisHands of Stoneco-starEdgar Ramirez.Martin Scorsesemost recently directedSilenceand the pilot episode of HBO’sVinyl. Hopefully we’ll have more onKillers of the Flower Moonsoon.
