Summary
The Killers of the Flower Moon ending features a radio play within a stage play, similar to Wes Anderson’s storytelling formula. Martin Scorsese’s use of quirky elements in the radio play, such as props and background noise, is reminiscent of Anderson’s work. Scorsese’s innovative ending avoids genre cliches by opting for a more emotional and surprising reveal, showcasing his continued commitment to creative storytelling techniques.
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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Killers of the Flower Moon
Killers of the Flower Moon has a somewhat abrupt but unique and unexpected ending, but a 16-year-old op-ed written by Martin Scorsese gives some context to the final scene. The new movie, co-written and directed by the celebrated filmmaker, is about the killings in Osage County in the 1920s, specifically following Ernest Buckhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), who marries Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a member of the Osage Nation. The Killers of the Flower Moon cast is incredible, and every actor delivers a powerful performance that brings the harrowing and devastating true story to the big screen, but one surprising member of the cast is Martin Scorsese himself.
The Killers of the Flower Moon ending cuts to a radio play of Killers of the Flower Moon, which is being presented on stage, decades later. The whole story had also just been told to the packed theater onscreen. During the radio play epilogue, however, none other than Martin Scorsese appears to give the final words; Mollie divorced Ernest, remarried, and died at the age of 50 in 1937 from diabetes. There was no mention of the murders in her obituary. It’s hard-hitting, especially coming from the visionary director himself, and while it seems a little out of place, this ending was somewhat foreshadowed 16 years ago.
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Killers Of The Flower Moon’s Final Scene Is Very Similar To Wes Anderson’s Style
The Killers of the Flower Moon ending is surprisingly staggeringly reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s work. Some of the director’s most popular movies include Rushmore, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and 2023’s Asteroid City. Anderson is another visionary director known for his painstakingly symmetrical shots, unbelievably huge all-star casts, and breaking the fourth wall with stories within other stories within his movies. A number of Anderson’s films heavily feature meticulously crafted stageplays, such as Rushmore, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City. In that respect, the ending of Killers of the Flower Moon and Anderson’s quirky storytelling formula have a lot in common.
This is especially the case with Asteroid City, as it’s revealed that what audiences are watching is actually a stage play within a live production of a documentary. In the Asteroid City ending, the fourth wall is totally knocked down as the stage play and the live documentary cross over. That sort of storytelling is to be expected in a Wes Anderson movie, and it’s part of why he has such a dedicated fanbase. The fourth-wall-breaking narrative twists are something that fits with the quirkiness of Anderson’s world. However, that kind of twist is something of an eyebrow-raiser in a harrowing Scorsese movie that depicts one of the most unsettling moments in American history.
The Killers of the Flower Moon ending doesn’t just lift Anderson’s use of stageplays to break the fourth wall, but Scorsese even uses Anderson’s punchy stageplay rhythm and takes a surprisingly quirky approach too. Peculiar elements such as the radio play being sponsored by Lucky Stripe Cigarettes, props like typewriters and notepads creatively used to emulate the descriptions, and clattering cutlery to recreate the noise of a railway station elevate the radio play to something typically Andersonesque. However, the similarity between Anderson’s work and the new Scorsese epic is no coincidence, and if anything, it’s surprising Scorsese didn’t use this approach earlier in his career.
Martin Scorsese Already Explained His Wes Anderson Influence 16 Years Ago
16 years ago, Scorsese wrote an op-ed for Esquire about how much he admires Wes Anderson as a filmmaker, and he famously called the Bottle Rocket director “the next Martin Scorsese.” The director specifically cited Bottle Rocket, which he frequently calls one of his all-time favorite movies. It’s hardly surprising that Scorsese was enamored by Bottle Rocket, as the movie is full of classic rock tracks and morally ambiguous characters. Scorsese commented, “the central idea of the film is so delicate, so human: A group of young guys think that their lives have to be filled with risk and danger in order to be real.”
Given Scorsese’s past recognition of Anderson, it’s hardly surprising that the director made an ending so similar to Anderson’s work, and it was likely a very conscious influence too. Scorsese also mentioned Anderson’s sophomore effort, Rushmore, in the Esquire article. The director added, “I’m also very fond of his second film, Rushmore (1998)–it has the same tenderness, the same kind of grace. Both of them are very funny, but also very moving.” Rushmore is about a 16-year-old genius who wants to create a theater masterpiece, and the incredibly and hilariously overproduced scenes of the stageplay are the movie’s showstopper.
Interestingly, in 2015, Anderson was asked about Scorsese naming him the next Martin Scorsese (via THR). The director modestly mentioned, “I think he said that a very, very long time ago. I don’t know if he feels the same way anymore… And by the way, he said it in the context of somebody is doing an article about who is the next Scorsese, so he had to pick somebody. It wasn’t like he showed up out of the blue and said, ‘I want to share with you the next Scorsese.'” However, based on the Killers of the Flower Moon ending, it’s likely that Scorsese still very much feels the same way.
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Scorsese Is Still Finding Innovative Ways To Avoid Genre Cliches 50 Years Later
While the radio play ending is clearly influenced by Wes Anderson, Scorsese still uses the concept in an extremely innovative way. Most historical movies and biopics end in exactly the same way; with lines of sentences that describe what happened to the real-life people after the events of the films. Instead of falling into that cliched trap, Scorsese creatively set a radio play years later to reveal what happened to each character. Not only is the final reveal more exciting and surprising this way, but it’s also a much more emotional way to deliver the information than any wrap-up sentence could ever be.
Scorsese has been making movies for over 50 years, but after all that time, the filmmaker is still finding ways to innovate and pull off brave and creative storytelling techniques. It’s likely that featuring a text card at the end of the movie to reveal Mollie’s fate was the last thing he wanted to do, and he boldly avoids a tired cliche that few other filmmakers would even care about. Ending the movie this way with the Scorsese Killers of the Flower Moon cameo also speaks to the passion Scorsese has for the project and the deep empathy he clearly has for Mollie, making the ending that much more hard-hitting.
Sources: Esquire, THR