Martin Scorsese Defends Brendan Fraser's Killers of the Flower Moon Performance

Scorsese has nothing but praise for the Oscar winner, who plays an over-the-top lawyer in this year's awards-bait drama.

By Russ Burlingame

Brendan Fraser's larger-than-life performance in Killers of the Flower Moon has put some audiences off, but director Martin Scorsese says it was "perfect" for the film.. He praised Fraser as a "wonderful actor" and expressed that the Oscar winner came in with fairly little time left on the shoot and knocked his performance out of the park. That some audiences aren't connecting with it is likely due to a penchant for naturalism which, ironically, really took hold in the 1970s when Scorsese was first making a name for himself in Hollywood.

Killers of the Flower Moon is Fraser's first movie since he won an Academy Award earlier this year for his role in The Whale. And while his performance in that movie was aided by prosthetics, Scorsese admits he did his best to fill the frame with a big, imposing Fraser.

"We thought he'd be great for the lawyer and I admired his work over the years," Scorsese said during a press conference (via Variety). "He actually came in for I think a couple of weeks on the picture, particularly when it was in our later shoot. We had a really good time working together, particularly with Leo. Particularly in the scene where he says, 'They're putting a noose around your neck, he's saving you dumb boy.'"

"Really for us, when we heard that... he brought the whole scene down on Leo. It was perfect," Scorsese added. "And he had that girth. He's big in the frame at that time. He's a wonderful actor and he was just great to work with."

Here's Apple's synopsis for Killers of the Flower Moon:

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"At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone)."

"Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. Also starring Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion, Killers of the Flower Moon is directed by Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Eric Roth and Scorsese, based on David Grann's best-selling book."

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