Killers of the Flower Moon has been a long time coming, in no small part because Martin Scorsese went to great lengths to make sure his film about the Reign of Terror in Oklahoma’s Osage country during the 1910s to 1930s did justice in every way to the story, the history, and the Osage people.
That meant deep preparation and consultation, from the setting and the language down to every article of clothing. In the spring of 2019, the director began to scout locations in Oklahoma on the Osage reservation with the goal of learning the tribe’s history, culture, and traditions and incorporating the Osage perspective and their advice on getting the story right. A fan of Scorsese’s work, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear was nonetheless concerned about how the story of the Reign of Terror—in which dozens of Osage who owned valuable mineral “headrights” for newly discovered oil-rich lands were mysteriously murdered—would be approached and how the Osage would be portrayed.
A key to engaging with the community to learn their stories and to hear their concerns was an in-depth meeting between the two men. The connection was immediate. “It was a great two and a half hours,”
