What you need to know
- Apple TV+ has a new star on its books.
- It has signed a multi-year first-look deal with Martin Scorsese.
- He will produce and direct film and TV shows for Apple TV+.
Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese has inked a multi-year first-look deal with Apple TV+.
As reported by Deadline:
Two and one-half months after it stepped up to become the producers of Killers of the Flower Moon, Apple has inked a first-look deal with its director, Martin Scorsese. The master filmmaker will base his Sikelia Productions banner at Apple in a multi-year deal for film and television projects Scorsese will produce and direct for Apple TV +.
The first title is the already-announced Killers of the Flower Moon starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. The title cost Apple a reported $180 million, and production is slated to begin in February of 2021. From that report in May:
This new film is based on the book Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI, a book about a series of murders of affluent Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma. The film is set in the 1920s and follows the discovery of oil deposits beneath the lands of the aforementioned Native Americans. Deadline notes "the ensuing investigation established the FBI and was a pivotal moment in the evolution of America from its frontier era."
Studio Paramount will distribute the film in theaters before it arrives on the Apple TV+ streaming platform.
Apple has signed similar deals with Leonardo DiCaprio, Idris Elba, and Ridley Scott.
