Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese go way back. Taxi Driver was based on Schrader’s first solo screenplay. He’s written or co-written some of his finest films, including Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead. They’re close buds, which is good because Schrader, as people well know, isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Naturally Schrader has some thoughts about Scorsese’s latest, the much-loved Killers of the Flower Moon, and surely Scorsese is cool with him mouthing off.
Per Variety, Schrader — who made a very fine picture himself this year, namely Master Gardener — sat down with the French publication Le Monde, during which he discussed the differences between he and his longtime collaborator. For one thing, Schrader likes smaller, more intimate films while Scorsese digs sprawling, ambitious epics.
“Marty compares me to a Flemish miniaturist. He would be more the type who paints Renaissance frescoes,” Schrader explained. “Give him $200 million, a good film will inevitably come out of it.”
But Schrader has a few bones to pick with Flower Moon.
“That said, I would have preferred Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of the cop in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ rather than the role of the idiot,” Schrader said. “Spending three-and-a-half hours in the company of an idiot is a long time.”
As it happened, that was the original plan for Flower Moon. Its initial draft hewed close to David Grann’s book, which largely focuses on the federal investigation into the spate of mysterious murderers befalling the noveau riche Osage people of Oklahoma. Instead Scorsese and team wound up inverting it, deciding to make the lead character Ernest, the nincompoop who marries a wealthy Osage woman (played by Lily Gladstone), one of a number of Osage people whom his uncle (Robert De Niro) wants murdered for their money. The character DiCaprio was originally supposed to play, former Texas Marshal Tom White, went to awesomely mumbly Jesse Plemons.
But Schrader, who’s made untold films about antiheroic protagonists, thinks the original way would have worked best. He’s an opinionated guy, as witness his prolifically updated Facebook page. And honestly, considering his incredible CV — Blue Collar! American Gigolo! his deranged Cat People redo! Light Sleeper! his recent run of First Reformed, The Card Counter, and the aforementioned Master Gardener, plus many greats in between! — he can say whatever he wants. Besides, he’s not wrong about another of the year’s super-long pictures.