While Martin Scorsese brought about 20 minutes of footage of Gangs of New York to Cannes Film Festival in 2002, the last time he had an official selection there (not counting New York Stories and My Voyage to Italy) was 37 years ago with After Hours, for which he picked up the Best Director award. Now, after many rumors, he’s officially set to return to the festival where he also premiered Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Palme d’Or winner Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, and The King of Comedy.
The French festival confirmed today that they will world premiere on Saturday, May 20 in the Grand Théâtre Lumière with Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, Tantoo Cardinal, along with additional cast and members of the filmmaking team, in attendance.
While the festival didn’t announce whether the film would be in competition or out of competition, news arrived this week that Paramount set an October release in France that would make it eligible to compete for the Palme d’Or if Thierry Frémaux wishes. In the United States, the film is set to open in limited release on Friday, October 6, followed by a wide release on Friday, October 20. It’ll then stream globally on Apple TV+, though no specific date has been announced yet. s distributors begin to date their awards season offerings.
The adaptation of the David Grann book by Scorsese and Eric Roth will depict the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Costume designer Jacqueline West recently talked about her experience on the project. “After Dune: Part One, I had the most incredible experience of my film career. I went to work with Martin Scorsese. I can’t talk about that film yet because nothing has been released but I just have to say it’s the combination of someone I always wanted to work with and my absolute dream project. It’s called Killers of the Flower Moon and it was brilliantly done not just on my part but by everybody,” West said. “I was talking to Leo about it. We had lunch before I came here. He said, ‘Jackie, I think we worked on a masterpiece.’ I thought for Leo to say that, was something. He doesn’t say that lightly. He has been in the business since he was a little boy.”