The Cannes Film Festival and Apple Original Films have today confirmed that Martin Scorsese’s epic Osage Nation crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon will celebrate its world premiere at the 76th edition of the festival on Saturday 20 May. The event marks the filmmaker’s return to the Official Selection for the first time since After Hours in 1986.
The film will screen at the Grand Théâtre Lumière as part of the Official Selection, but the festival has not yet confirmed whether it will be playing in Competition, as the list of competing films is traditionally only revealed in mid-April during the Official Press Conference. What has been confirmed is that Scorsese will hit the red carpet alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, and Tantoo Cardinal amongst others.
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on David Grann’s bestselling book and adapted for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the film traces the serial murders of members of the oil-rich Osage Nation, a series of brutal crimes that have come to be known as the ‘Reign of Terror’.
In partnership with Paramount Pictures, Killers will first receive a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on Friday, October 6 followed by a wide release on Friday, October 20 before later going on to stream worldwide on Apple TV+.
With a host of highly anticipated films set to hit theatres later this year, it’s anyone’s guess which other movies will be screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, although current frontrunners include Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (15 years after the last entry screened there out-of-competion), Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Again, the full line-up is expected to be announced at the aforementioned traditional press conference trypically held in Paris in mid-April.
