‘Killers of the Flower Moon’: Will Scorsese’s history directing actors to Oscars continue with latest crime drama?

Martin Scorsese‘s highly-praised new true-crime thriller, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” has finally arrived in theaters almost five months after having its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, the Oscar-winning filmmaker has received much acclaim for his direction and the screenplay he co-wrote with Eric Roth, adapted from David Grann‘s book, but a trio of actors has also received much attention.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro have both worked with Scorsese for decades, though De Niro has about 30 extra years on the younger DiCaprio. In “Killers,” DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a WWI veteran who returns home to Fairfax, Oklahoma, where the Osage Nation has thrived after finding oil on their land. Ernest’s uncle William “King” Hale (De Niro) suggests he marry Mollie (played by Lily Gladstone), a full-blood Osage woman, in order that he might inherit some of that money. As Mollie’s relatives and neighbors begin dying, the Bureau of Investigation gets involved, sending Tom White (Jesse Plemons) to investigate.

De Niro and DiCaprio are two of Scorsese’s most frequent collaborators. De Niro’s relationship with the filmmaker goes back to “Mean Streets” in 1973 — 50 years! Meanwhile, DiCaprio has been appearing in films for the director for just over 20 years, going back to 2002’s “Gangs of New York.” DiCaprio has appeared in more of Scorsese’s movies in recent years than De Niro has, though De Niro and Scorsese reunited for 2019’s “The Irishman.”

For “The Irishman,” De Niro received one of his eight Oscar nominations (Best Picture as a producer, despite being snubbed for Best Actor). Four of his nominations have been for movies directed by Scorsese, including a Best Actor win for 1980’s “Raging Bull.” De Niro also received nominations for Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” and “Cape Fear.”

DiCaprio has received two Oscar nominations for Scorsese movies, one for “The Aviator” (2004) and another for “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). He has only won a single Oscar, for starring in Alejandro Gonzalez Iñáritu‘s “The Revenant” (2015).

But other actors have benefitted from working with the acclaimed filmmaker, such as Cate Blanchett, who won her first of two Oscars for playing Katherine Hepburn in “The Aviator.” The film won four other Oscars besides Blanchett’s, and the actress won again for Woody Allen‘s “Blue Jasmine” (2013) almost a decade later.

Another actor who won an Oscar for an undeniable performance in a Scorsese movie was Joe Pesci for “Goodfellas” back in 1990, playing Tommy DeVito. It was the film’s only Oscar win out of six nominations, which also included a bid for Lorraine Bracco as Best Supporting Actress.

The late Paul Newman won his first and only Oscar for his lead performance in 1986’s Scorsese film “The Color of Money,” a sequel to Newman’s 1961 film “The Hustler,” with the actor reprising his role as “Fast Eddie” Felson. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was also nominated in a supporting role, adding to the number of nominations Scorsese has directed actors to.

And let’s not forget the one leading lady who has won for a Scorsese-directed performance: Ellen Burstyn as the title character in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”; Scorsese even accepted the award on her behalf when she was absent from the ceremony. That film picked up an additional supporting nom for Diane Ladd.

Even though “The Departed” is Scorsese’s only film to win Best Picture to date, it only received one acting nomination, for Mark Wahlberg, despite great performances from DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon. That also finally won Scorsese his well-deserved first Oscar for directing, though oddly, after 17 years, it’s still his only Oscar win. Wahlberg’s nomination was the only one of the film’s five bids that didn’t convert into a win.

Another actor nominated for “Cape Fear” was Juliette Lewis, who was just 17 when she performed a memorably intimate scene with the much older De Niro. The teenager had already been acting for a few years when she earned her nom for Best Supporting Actress.

“Wolf of Wall Street” and “Irishman” are the only Scorsese movies in the past 10 years to get major Oscar traction (“Silence” came in-between and only earned a Best Cinematography nom). One of the five Oscar nominations for “Wolf” did go to Jonah Hill for his supporting role as Donnie Azoff.  “Irishman” was up for twice as many Oscars, including supporting noms for Pesci and Al Pacino, but both ended up with a big old goose egg in terms of actual statues.

Could “Killers of the Flower Moon” add more gold to Scorsese’s filmography? DiCaprio won his Oscar eight years ago, and he currently ranks second in Gold Derby’s Oscar odds for Best Actor. Likewise, De Niro’s performance ranks second in a highly competitive Supporting Actor race. With Gladstone surprisingly moved to the Best Actress category from Best Supporting Actress, where we had originally expected her to compete, she has much more competition but nevertheless ranks second to win as a lead. Either way, she would be the first Native American actor to receive an Oscar nomination in the lead category, which is quite an achievement in itself.

We still have three more months until Oscar nominations are announced, and another two before Oscar night, giving voters a total of five months to add “Killers” to their list of must-see movies. There’s little question “Killers” will be a major player, especially in the crafts categories, but we’ll have to wait and see if Gladstone receives her first Oscar or her two male co-stars add statues to their mantels, because the acting categories seem even more crowded this year than in years past.

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