Martin Scorsese Says Leonardo DiCaprio Convinced Director to Let Him Play Villain Instead of Hero in “Killers”

Scorsese has been named "WSJ. Magazine"'s film innovator of the year and covers the magazine's November Innovators Issue

Martin Scorsese has often found his onscreen hero in Leonardo DiCaprio — but for Killers of the Flower Moon, the actor wanted to take on a different role.

DiCaprio, one of Scorsese's most-frequent collaborators, was originally slated to portray FBI lead investigator Tom White in Killers of the Flower Moon, a white man who is brought to Oklahoma in the 1920s to investigate a series of murders in the Osage Nation. But when Scorsese's story changed, DiCaprio was quick to suggest a personal recasting, as well.

According to WSJ. Magazine, Scorsese hoped to avoid the white-savior trope, and ultimately decided against anchoring the film around the detective's perspective. It was DiCaprio, the director said, who suggested he instead play Ernest Burkhart, a man who marries an Osage woman (played by Lily Gladstone) but ultimately gets involved in vicious schemes to kill the Osage people for their oil money. White is now portrayed onscreen by Jesse Plemons.

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Scorsese's script flip wasn't as well received by all: "The studio said, 'We backed the other version, we can’t back this one,' " he recounted to WSJ. Magazine. Ultimately, Apple got involved, and after a theater run, Killers of the Flower Moon will stream on Apple TV+.

Still, the up-and-down was "pretty scary" for Scorsese, 80. "During these dry spells, it's pretty scary," he told the outlet, which referenced Scorsese considering "the precautions of estate planning." Said the director, "We’re at the end, in a sense."

Related: Killers of the Flower Moon Cast Discuss Using 'Authentic' Osage Language in New Clip (Exclusive)

Scorsese was interviewed as part of WSJ. Magazine’s annual Innovators Issue and Awards. The Oscar winner is WSJ. Magazine’s film innovator of the year and covers the issue, out on newsstands Nov. 11. There will be seven total covers representing each of this year's award recipients.

"Meaningful innovation, the kind that legacies are made of, can be a little hard to define in the abstract — but it’s never hard to spot once it leaves an indelible mark on the world," Sarah Ball, editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine, tells PEOPLE in a statement. "The seven Innovators we celebrate are an inspiration to anyone who finds hope in the power of ideas to give rise to a better world."

Previous honorees have included Kim Kardashian West, Eddie Murphy, Ryan Reynolds, and more.

Killers of the Flower Moon is based on David Grann's 2017 bestselling book of the same name. The cast also includes Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, Scott Shepard, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson.

Related: Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone Star in Epic New Trailer for 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

The movie includes actors speaking authentic Osage language, a choice Scorsese explained in an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip previously provided to PEOPLE. "We're making a film about a historical event that is central to the Osage history, so of course it's important we spoke that language," he said.

"This is the 1920s, where people were still speaking the Osage language daily," Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation, noted in the same clip.

Killers of the Flower Moon is in theaters Oct. 20.

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