In an interview with Thierry Fremaux, Variety’s Elsa Keslassy let it slip that Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” is 3 hours 45 minutes. Is that a confirmation?
Fremaux’s response is interesting …
I don’t know what the final length is, but let’s say that for me it’s not an issue. All I know is that it’s only five minutes more than “Once Upon a Time in America.”
Fremaux again stated how the film is “great” and is “obviously invited in competition”. He adds that he’s now “waiting to hear their [Apple] decision. We have until the last minute.”
He additionally tells the story of when Fellini won the Palme d’Or for “La Dolce Vita,” he said “I’m not coming back in competition.”
Scorsese won the Palme d’Or in 1976. “So obviously one could say, he doesn’t have much to gain considering his prestigious status. Expect one thing: the Palme d’Or. I think he should come in competition.”
It’s not like Scorsese didn’t get back into competition after the “Taxi Driver” win. Scorsese competed two more times in 1983 and 1986 for “The King of Comedy” and “After Hours.”
Scorsese has been really pushing it with runtimes these last few years. His last three films were all epic in length: “Silence” (161 minutes), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (180 minutes) and “The Irishman” (210 minutes) had monstrous post-production processes.