Rumor: Martin Scorsese Wants To Move 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' To Netflix As The Budget Skyrockets To $225 Million
It looks like Martin Scorsese is missing his pals at Netflix. The streaming giant essentially gave Scorsese a blank check to make The Irishman, and now that the legendary filmmaker is back working with a regular studio, he's reportedly getting nostalgic for that Netflix freedom. Scorsese is currently working on Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars both Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The movie already has a budget over $220 million dollars, which is rumored to be giving studio Paramount more than a few sleepless nights.
Richard Rushfield broke this story in his Ankler newsletter, stating that there are rumors swirling that Netflix could swoop in and grab Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Rushfield states these are nothing but rumors for now, but does add that even if Netflix doesn't come to the rescue, Scorsese would sure like them to. As the story goes, Paramount is nervous about Flower Moon's current $225 million budget – and not even the presence of box office draw Leonardo DiCaprio is soothing these worries.
Scorsese had money to burn and a wealth of freedom on the Netflix-released The Irishman, and Paramount's worry over the budget seems to have him pining for that sweet, sweet Netflix support system. Again: None of this means Netflix is going to ride in on a white horse and take Killers of the Flower Moon away. Still, it's interesting to learn how fond of Netflix Scorsese has become – and who can blame him? He's been making movies the old fashioned way for decades, and then Netflix went ahead and gave him tons of money and freedom to do whatever the heck he wanted. Who wouldn't want to return to that?
Based on a true story, and the book of the same name by David Gran, Killers of the Flower Moon tells the story of the Osage murders of the 1920s. At the time, the Osage Nation in Oklahoma had become extremely wealthy due to oil being discovered beneath their land. Then, as the book jacket explains "one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered." The FBI, still in its infancy at the time, began investigating, and sent in a former Texas Ranger, Tom White, to try to find the killer (or killers). White put together an undercover team to get to the bottom of things, and ended up exposing a conspiracy in the process.
As a lifelong Scorsese fan, I'm of the opinion that studios and producers should give him as much damn money and freedom as he wants to get his films made, but hey, that's me. Scorsese is set to start shooting Killers of the Flower Moon next month.