Over the last 20 years, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese have forged a partnership resulting in some of the most critically acclaimed films of the 21st century. The duo's resume includes Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, and The Wolf of Wall Street, all of which were either box office successes, Academy Award winners, or both. The pair just finished production on their next project, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is reportedly set to premiere at next year's Cannes Film Festival. Flower Moon comes from a book of the same name which Apple Original Films bought the rights to, and the studio is repeating that process by bringing Scorsese and DiCaprio in for another novel adaptation.
The Hollywood Reporter says Apple has acquired the rights to a non-fiction book titled The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, written by David Grann. The story follows the crew of a British ship that crashed into an island, and their journey to survive the sea and make it back to land. The Grann novel also includes another crew of shipwrecked sailors, lies, accusations, and a trial to determine what happened on the initial island the group of British sailors was stranded on. Scorsese is being brought in to direct the project, and DiCaprio has been attached as the film's lead. No other casting details are known at this time, and a production start date has yet to be set as well. If filming were to begin this year, then a late 2023 release could be in the cards for The Wager.
DiCaprio and Scorsese are Continuing Their Prolific Partnership on Apple TV+
The Wager will mark the second straight project that Scorsese and DiCaprio have worked on for Apple after recently wrapping Killers of the Flower Moon. Much like The Wager, Flower Moon is based on a David Grann novel titled Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. The 2017 story details a series of murders that took place in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. After being awarded the rights to the profits from oil deposits found on their land, a number of Osage people were murdered, leading to an FBI investigation. While Flower Moon is set to be released on Apple TV+, a partnership with Paramount will give the film a full theatrical release at some point next year. The Cannes Film Festival will be held in May, so it's safe to assume that Flower Moon won't hit theaters until June 2023 at the earliest.
Of DiCaprio's five Best Actor Academy Award nominations, two have come from collaborations with Scorsese. The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street earned recognition from the Academy, but DiCaprio's lone Oscar win came from 2016's The Revenant from director Alejandro G. Inarritu. Flower Moon and The Wager both sound like films that could earn DiCaprio additional Best Actor nominations, and maybe even his first win from a Scorsese-directed film. Scorsese may also be on his way to a second Best Director award if either project ends up being a critical success upon release. Even though it will be awhile before both films are either in theaters or streaming, it's exciting to see the partnership between Scorsese and DiCaprio continue to flourish as it enters its second decade.