Killers of the Flower Moon Trailer Pits Leonardo DiCaprio Amidst a Murderous Historical Tragedy

Killers of the Flower Moon just got a second trailer, ahead of its theatrical release on October 20. Apple TV has dropped a chunky two-and-a-half-minute-long trailer for the highly-anticipated murderous Western drama from director Martin Scorsese, as he reteams with frequent collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Drawing from David Grann’s no-fiction novel ‘Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,’ the film serves as a sordid illustration surrounding the Osage Murders in Oklahoma in the early 1920s, which saw Native Americans getting killed for access to their oil-rich lands. It is also billed as Apple’s most expensive film to date, budgeted at $200 million (about Rs. 1,649 crore).

The trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon opens with Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), who found his way into Oklahoma, flirting with an Osage native Mollie (Lily Gladstone), smitten by her darker skin tone, while it storms outside. The trailer from May suggested that Ernest was driving her around town — presumably as a cabbie or just giving her a lift — and this quiet scene is probably a continuation of that first meeting. “The Osage. They have the worst land possible. But they outsmarted everybody,” cattle rancher William Hale (De Niro), Ernest’s villainous uncle, says upon arriving in the new land. “The land had oil on it. Black gold.” The idyllic lifestyle of the Osage is soon threatened when more greedy Caucasian men and women arrive, looking to turn a profit from the oil deposits.

Now as it happens, Ernest ended up marrying Mollie, causing him to struggle with conflicting loyalties, as his uncle prepares to claim all the wealth from the land through whatever means possible. The killings begin, erupting into street-wide riots and robberies, all playing to the tune of ‘Stadium Pow Wow‘ by The Halluci Nation in the Killers of the Flower Moon trailer. “They’re like buzzards, circling our people,” Paul, a native leader briefs the locals in the area, as the invasion grows to an alarming degree. “We’re still warriors!” But all of that hope is deemed futile, as a bunch of Osage natives are gradually murdered in heinous ways including setting a bomb to a household. This spawns a chilling investigation led by FBI agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons), uncovering a larger conspiracy that involves uncle Hale hiring hitmen to do his foul deeds. Mollie’s family is also dead, and in such times of misery seeks support from her husband Ernest for vengeance, who himself is — quite literally — held under the firm grasp of his ruthless uncle.

“Expecting a miracle to make this all go away… You know they don’t happen anymore” Hale tells a scared and teary-eyed Ernest, as he’s forced to pick a side. The Killers of the Flower Moon trailer also offered a brief glimpse of lawyer W. S. Hamilton (Brendan Fraser), who would go on to represent his client Hale in court and try to rid him of any charges the latter has been suspected of. The film also stars John Lithgow (Interstellar) as Prosecutor Leaward, who will try and convict Hale for the murder of the Osage tribe, Tantoo Cardinal (Wind River) as Mollie’s mother, and Scott Shepherd (The Last of Us) as Hale’s other nephew Bryan Burkhart, who was implicated in the crimes.

Killers of the Flower Moon is scheduled to drop October 6 in limited theatres, followed by a wider release on October 20. Currently, there is no word on whether it will arrive in Indian theatres, though it will very likely show up on Apple TV+ at an undisclosed, later date.