Iconic movie director Martin Scorsese said his first time working with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro on the same project caused some friction.
The trio of greats teamed up for Scorsese’s newest film, an American Western crime drama called “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The Academy Award-winning filmmaker said in a recent profile by The Wall Street Journal Magazine that the two actors didn’t always get along on set.
It all had to do with DiCaprio’s tendency to talk a lot during his improv performances. “Every now and then, Bob and I would look at each other and roll our eyes a little bit,” Scorsese told the outlet. “And we’d tell [DiCaprio], ‘You don’t need that dialogue.'”
The director highlighted the difference between the two men, saying DiCaprio’s talking was “endless, endless, endless!” while De Niro “didn’t want to talk.”
Scorsese has touched on this before, but insisted that both actors complemented each other.
“I found I could work with [Leo] if I talked with him a lot,” Scorsese told reporters at a press conference in early October, per Entertainment Weekly. “His method for me is a method of constant conversation, constant exploration. With De Niro, it’s a little different. Yes, there’s talking, but then there’s quiet.”
He said this was actually a good thing, insisting that “the two together played off each other so beautifully.”
“When Leo and I started to work together, I discovered we had similar sensibilities that Bob and I had,” Scorsese added. “He was also brave enough to go to places the way that Bob would — difficult places. [He had] a fearlessness about performing and trying anything.”
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“Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and explores America’s interactions with indigenous people at the time. It follows a string of murders, dubbed the “Reign of Terror,” of members of the Osage Nation. DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a World War I veteran, while De Niro portrays his uncle, Oklahoma businessman William Hale.
Though the three Hollywood legends have never worked together before, this is Scorsese’s tenth film with De Niro and his sixth with DiCaprio. De Niro and DiCaprio also appeared in movies together several times, beginning with “This Boy’s Life” in (1993).
“Killer of the Flower Moon” premieres on Friday.