The Osage Nation is central to the story of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. The film depicts the murders of wealthy Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma after oil was discovered beneath Osage lands. Members of the nation held headrights connected to the oil wealth, making them targets for people seeking control of their property.
The film is based on David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, and Lily Gladstone plays Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman whose family is affected by the killings. Robert De Niro portrays William King Hale, a powerful local figure.
Released in 2023, the film received multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Gladstone, and Best Director for Scorsese. Its title refers to the flowering cycle of plants: the “flower-killing moon” is a traditional name associated with May, when taller plants shade earlier wildflowers.