Ever since his turn as the casually amoral Todd Alquist on Breaking Bad, Jesse Plemons has been an always-welcome supporting player, enriching shows like Fargo and Black Mirror and films like Game Night, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and Judas and the Black Messiah with his presence. Now he’s finally getting the next level break he deserves: According to The Hollywood Reporter, he’s just nabbed the lead role in Martin Scorsese’s pricey, already star-studded Killers of the Flower Moon.
The role — an FBI agent investigating a string of murders of Native Americans who’ve struck it rich by discovering oil in 1920s Oklahoma — was originally supposed to be played by frequent Scorsese collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio. Don’t worry: DiCaprio will still be around. He’ll now be playing the husband of a member of the Osage Nation played by Certain Woman actress Lily Gladstone. Robert De Niro will plays DiCaprio’s strong-willed father.
Killers of the Flower Moon, based on the book by New Yorker writer David Grann, had a bit of a spell finding a home, bouncing from studio to studio before being picked up by Apple. That’s due in part to its large budget — $200 million, even more expensive than Scorsese’s Netflix epic The Irishman. Speaking of which, that film featured Plemons as Chuckie O’Brien, close confidant of Al Pacino’s Jimmy Hoffa. Even though it’s not the actor’s first rodeo with the great director, still, mazel tov!
(Via THR)