‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Editor Says Intermission Is a ‘Violation’ – IndieWire – Armessa Movie News

Martin Scorsese‘s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker is criticizing theaters for adding an intermission to “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

The film, which has drummed up controversy in the Indigenous community, is almost three-and-a-half hours long. “I understand that somebody’s running it with an intermission which is not right,” Schoonmaker told The Standard UK. “That’s a violation, so I have to find out about it.”

Schoonmaker has edited every Scorsese film since “Raging Bull” in 1980. Select theaters have shared on Twitter, including one in Colorado, that screenings of “Killers of the Flower Moon” will have an eight-minute intermission.

Scorsese previously defended the long runtime of the true crime period piece, telling the Hindustan Times, “People say it’s three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours. Also, there are many people who watch theater for 3.5 hours. There are real actors on stage, you can’t get up and walk around. You give it that respect. Give cinema some respect.”

He added of the theatrical release of the Apple and Paramount film, “In the case of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ it should be seen on the big screen. Are we intending to make a blockbuster? No, we’re making a movie, which should [be] watched on the big screen. Other pictures I made? Maybe not. Sometimes, it’s the strength of the picture too, if it plays well on a smaller screen, that’s interesting. ‘Killers’ could play on a small screen, but in order to truly immerse yourself, you should take out the time.”

The Oscar-winning auteur additionally told IndieWire’s Anne Thompson that the fluid production process led to the elongated feature.

“I kept working on the script as we were shooting, with the actors, with the Osage,” Scorsese said. “People would say things, even friends of mine would walk around and I’d write something down. The movie was a living organism that started to keep growing. And I didn’t have the anxiety that we had, let’s say, on ‘The Departed,’ where I didn’t know if I was gonna to get it. We kept rewriting and working it. Here, I felt comfortable that what we could feel was honest.”

Scorsese continued, “Rehearsal for us is like reading it, arguing, discussing. Not even arguments or debating, it’s saying, ‘You know, that line is too much. Do you need it? Oh, you could say it. And we’re here, here and here. You don’t want to do one without it? For God’s sakes!’ We’re together. It isn’t antagonistic, we know each other for years. At times, we find that Leo is younger, and his energy goes flying. And Bob and I are older. So we wait until he calms down a bit. And then I give my opinion and Bob gives his, and I give mine from both. It deals with a lot of patience and trust.”