They say good things come to those who wait, and in Martin Scorsese’s case, he knows that the prolonged running time of his Western drama “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is more than worth it.
In a new interview with The Hindustan Times, Scorsese, 80, shut down criticism about his upcoming film’s lengthy runtime of 3 hours and 26 minutes by comparing it to how long the average person binge watches TV.
With hit films like “Casino,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Irishman” under his belt, Scorsese is no stranger to keeping moviegoers locked in with visually stunning films that come close to or exceed three hours.
“People say it’s three hours, but come on,” the director said. “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 might have caught wind of bellyachers that griped over the length of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but many fans of the filmmaker gushed over their excitement on X, formerly Twitter, to see the flick that lasts 206 minutes.
Amid the era of many theatrical releases swapping over to streaming services, Scorsese admitted that fans will be doing a disservice to themselves if they don’t check out “Killers of the Flower Moon” on the big screen.
“Are we intending to make a blockbuster? No, we’re making a movie, which should [be] watched on the big screen,” Scorsese told the outlet.
He added: “Other pictures I made? Maybe not. Sometimes, it’s the strength of the picture too, if it plays well on a smaller screen, that’s interesting. Killers could play on a small screen, but in order to truly immerse yourself, you should take out the time.”
Set in Oklahoma during the 1920s, “Killers of the Flower Moon” follows the true story of the tragic series of massacres of the Osage nation known as the “Reign of Terror.” The film is based on journalist David Grann’s popular book of the same name.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon” hits theaters Oct. 20. Watch the trailer below.