Killers of the Flower Moon_ The SHOCKING True Crime Story Explained _ E! News
Killers of the Flower Moon_ The SHOCKING True Crime Story Explained _ E! News
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00:00 You've made a good choice coming back here.
00:02 Squisaze are the finest, wealthiest,
00:05 and most beautiful people on God's earth.
00:06 It's a story of tragedy, conspiracy, and murder.
00:10 Killers of the Flower Moon is up for seven awards
00:13 at this year's Golden Globes,
00:15 but the buzz around the acclaimed project
00:17 has been swirling long before the film's 2023 release.
00:21 Directed by Martin Squisaze
00:23 and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone,
00:26 Killers of the Flower Moon tells the true story
00:29 of the Osage murders of the 1920s.
00:32 Let's delve into the details of the true crime tale
00:35 once dubbed The Reign of Terror.
00:37 Based on the David Grand book of the same name,
00:40 the film tells the story of the killings
00:42 of dozens of members of the Oklahoma Osage tribe
00:46 who became extraordinarily wealthy
00:48 due to their oil-rich land.
00:50 In a scheme to inherit their money,
00:52 a conspiracy was hatched to kill off dozens
00:56 of members of the tribe.
00:57 Among the film's cast portraying real-life characters,
01:01 William K. Hale, played by Robert De Niro,
01:03 his nephew, Ernest, played by Leonardo DiCaprio,
01:07 and his wife, Molly, an Osage woman
01:09 played by Lily Gladstone.
01:11 It's the brutal murder of Molly's sister, Anna Brown,
01:14 that catches the attention of the organization
01:17 that would later become known as the FBI.
01:20 But Molly's family had actually started dying
01:23 in tragic ways around the time she married Ernest,
01:26 including her sister, Rita,
01:28 who was killed in a house explosion.
01:30 What's later revealed is that Ernest and William
01:33 are at the center of the elaborate conspiracy.
01:36 The men were arrested in 1926 for the murders,
01:39 with Ernest confessing and detailing
01:41 his and his uncle's role in the scheme.
01:44 They were sentenced to life in prison,
01:46 but were later paroled.
01:48 In an interview with E! News in December,
01:50 Leo explained why he feels it's important
01:53 for audiences to see this side of American history.
01:57 This movie was something I'm so incredibly proud
02:01 to be a part of.
02:02 I really, really am.
02:04 And I know how much care, especially Marty took
02:07 and all of us took, really trying to tell the truth
02:11 of this story and really listen,
02:13 bringing the Osage community as a part of it.
02:16 So, you know, this was a sort of
02:20 pushed aside part of American history.
02:22 And it felt like, you know,
02:24 we were honored to be able to tell this story.
02:26 So when you tell the truth as best you can,
02:29 it's an easier thing than knowing in the back of your mind
02:33 that you're trying to create a character or a story
02:37 that is just completely from your own imagination.
02:41 Actress Lily Gladstone also shared why this story
02:44 coming to light on film was a moment
02:47 for the Osage community to reclaim their own history.
02:51 It's incredible that the story that was just not known
02:55 for so long that Osage community themselves
02:58 wouldn't speak about.
03:00 I've made so many very, very close friends
03:03 in Osage country that I see regularly.
03:06 And some that are more in my generation say
03:10 they grew up never even knowing who William Hale was
03:12 because the community just completely stopped talking
03:14 about him, cut him out of photos.
03:17 So to have so many Osage telling this story as well
03:22 and to get to be a part of that and see this history
03:26 have such a huge platform, it's really overwhelming.
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03:39 (upbeat music)
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