Martin Scorsese defends Brendan Fraser's divisive 'Killers of the Flower Moon' performance: 'It was perfect'

• Martin Scorsese gave his verdict on Brendan Fraser's polarizing performance in "Killers of the Flower Moon."
• He called Fraser a "wonderful actor" and said he was "perfect" as bombastic attorney W. S. Hamilton.
• Some criticized Fraser's introductory line delivery for being too exaggerated and overwrought.

Although Martin Scorsese's latest movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" has been widely praised, there are a couple of elements of the film that haven't gone down well with all cinemagoers: the three hours and 26 minutes runtime and Brendan Fraser's performance.

The actor, who took home the best actor Academy Award earlier this year for his role in "The Whale," has been panned by viewers for delivering what some have called an over-the-top and exaggerated turn as W. S. Hamilton, the attorney for Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio's characters.

While The Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday said Fraser was "distractingly cast" in the role in a review published on October 18. An X user (formerly Twitter) named @messyandhappy called it "one of the worst acting performances I have ever seen in my life, in an October 22 post with over 13,000 views. 

However, Scorsese recently spoke out against the critics, stating he thinks Fraser is "perfect" in the role.

"We thought he'd be great for the lawyer, and I admired his work over the years," Scorsese said at a press conference, per LADBible, in quotes confirmed by Entertainment Weekly.

"He actually came in for I think a couple of weeks on the picture, particularly when it was in our later shoot."

He continued: "We had a really good time working together, particularly with Leo. Particularly in the scene where he says, 'They're putting a noose around your neck, he's saving you, dumb boy.'"

"He brought the whole scene down on Leo," Scorsese added. "It was perfect. And he had that girth. He's big in the frame at that time. He's a wonderful actor and he was just great to work with."

Fraser's small but memorable role comes toward the end of "Killers of the Flower Moon" when William Hale (De Niro) and his nephew Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) find themselves on trial for the murder of several Osage people.

Ernest is about to testify against his uncle, but as he takes the stand, he's interrupted by an urgent, pleading Hamilton, who yells, "This man is my client!"

It's this particular line reading that attracted ridicule from viewers, although Apple Original Films were quick to point out the apparent accuracy of Fraser's performance in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, five days after the movie was released.

The post showed a side-by-side of Fraser in the film and a highlighted passage from the 2017 book the film is based on by David Grann, showing an exclamation point was used for this particular line.

"Note the exclamation point," the post simply read.