Killers of the Flower Moon is making a splash at the Cannes Film Festival — and the movie hasn’t even debuted yet. The film depicts the 1920s murders of Osage citizens for their headrights, money and land.
A trailer that dropped Thursday is already generating buzz. Osage News editor Shannon Shaw Duty, who is in Cannes to attend the premiere, said the film is going to transform the Osage Nation.
“It was thrilling,” she told KOSU about the trailer. “It shows the non-Indian community being complicit, the greed, the evil of it all.”
KOSU’s Allison Herrera spoke to KOSU’s Morning Edition host Michael Cross about her experience so far in Cannes.
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Cross: Allison, how's it going?
Allison Herrera: Well, right now, Michael, it's raining here, and I'm kind of in front of the Grand Lumiere Theatre. That's where all of the big premieres happen. That's where the stars walk down the red carpet and go into the theater. And tomorrow (Saturday), that's where Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio will be walking up for the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon.
Cross: Oh, that's amazing. What has been the general reaction to the film?
Herrera: The trailer was out, came out yesterday. And, you know, Shannon Shaw Duty, who is the editor of Osage News. She's with me here in Cannes and she's covering it for Osage News. And I asked her about the trailer and she just said that she was really blown away by it. She said as journalists, we have to take an objective approach. But, she said she's like, if I was you know, if I saw that trailer and I didn't know anything about the movie, I would want to see that movie. And she also told me that she thinks that this movie is really just going to change the way people think and it's going to bring this really important part of history to life. It's really going to transform her tribe, the Osage Nation. And I think she hopes that more people are going to know this history.
Cross: You've talked to quite a few Osage citizens and descendants of people portrayed in this film. What's their reaction been?
Herrera: I mean, it's kind of along the same lines, just really some people are really anxious. Some people are really, nervous about what they're going to see. Nervous about how some of those scenes are going to be portrayed, particularly the murders. You know, as I wrote in my story that was published yesterday, you know, I think that's a concern, like how are the Osage murders going to be portrayed? Or is it going to be violent or is it going to be treated with respect? And the Osage citizens that I've talked to have shared a little bit about their conversation, not fully into their conversation with Martin Scorsese because they're under an NDA, but they've said that they feel that he's going to treat this story with respect. He had a meeting with Osage citizens in Gray Horse (an Osage County community) before the movie started filming. And I think that a lot of people felt really positive about that conversation.
Cross: So when can the rest of us expect to see the killers of the Flower Moon movie?
Herrera: Well, so it'll be in wide release this fall.
Cross: Alison Herrera, thank you so much for joining me from south of France.
Herrera: You're welcome, Michael. It's my pleasure.
Killers of the Flower Moon will be released in theaters on Oct. 6, and will be streaming on Apple TV after that.
