Martin Scorsese Fires Back At One Killers Of The Flower Moon Criticism

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is bound to be another epic courtesy of Martin Scorsese. It's already earned a ton of praise from critics, but even before its release, it received quite a bit of criticism for its lengthy runtime. The film clocks in at 3 hours and 26 minutes, which will likely discourage people from ordering a large soda at concessions. But Scorsese doesn't think its length should deter people from seeing it and believes people should still give it a chance. 

While speaking with The Hindustan Times, Scorsese addressed anyone who thinks the movie's too long, "People say it's three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours. Also, there are many people who watch theatre for 3.5 hours. There are real actors on stage, you can't get up and walk around. You give it that respect, give cinema some respect."

Scorsese has long championed the cinematic experience, which is likely why "Killers of the Flower Moon" first gets a theatrical release before going to Apple TV+. But he clearly thinks seeing it on the big screen is the way to go and doesn't want people to justify waiting for it to go on the streaming platform. Still, that's a mighty long time to go between bathroom breaks. 

"Killers of the Flower Moon" isn't the first time Martin Scorsese has been at the center of discussion about movie runtimes. Similar conversations took place with 2019's "The Irishman," which also clocked in around 3.5 hours. It's clear Scorsese is passionate about these stories and wants to tell them as comprehensively as possible. And that was a massive undertaking with "Killers of the Flower Moon" because, even though it's based on a book of the same name by David Grann, significant changes were needed. 

The book is told from the perspective of Tom White (Jesse Plemons) and the FBI, providing an outsider perspective. But the film dedicates much more time to the Osage people, something Scorsese only realized later was essential. He told The New Yorker about an early draft of the project, "Our script was over 200 pages, and one night we had a big reading: myself and Leo [DiCaprio] and [the co-writer] Eric [Roth] and my daughter, a number of people. The first two hours, we were moving along. The second two hours, boy, is this getting a little long in the tooth, as they say. It was just getting to be — we really ran out of energy in the story."

That's when he recognized there needed to be more tangents focusing on the Osage people. He spent time in Oklahoma and made sure he did right by them. While it's the same story as the book, new perspectives enter the fray, and if anyone knows how long a movie needs to be, it'd be a good idea to trust Scorsese.