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Throughout his acclaimed filmography, Martin Scorsese has been known for left-of-center casting choices. His longtime collaborator and casting director Ellen Lewis said in an interview that they always \u201ctry to go outside the box in interesting ways.\u201d For evidence, consider memorable appearances by Scorsese\u2019s mother, Catherine, in \u201cGoodfellas\u201d and the writer Fran Lebowitz as a judge in \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
The director\u2019s epic new drama, \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon<\/a>,\u201d is no exception. The film tells the story of a 1920s plot by white Oklahoma men, notably an uncle and nephew played by Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, to murder members of the Osage Nation, including Mollie Burkhart and her three sisters. Alongside those recognizable Scorsese regulars, a variety of musicians, comedians and other nonactors (some recruited by the Indigenous casting director Rene Haynes) blend in seamlessly.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a spoiler-heavy guide to some of the film\u2019s most interesting cameos.<\/p>\n The country singer-songwriter Jason Isbell appears as Bill Smith, husband of Mollie\u2019s ill-fated sister Rita (played by JaNae Collins). For such a sizable part, \u201cKillers\u201d is the first major onscreen acting gig for the four-time Grammy winner. (He had a recurring voice role as a pastor on the Adult Swim series \u201cSquidbillies<\/a>.\u201d) How did Isbell end up in the film? Chalk it up to downtime. The movie was shot during the pandemic when musicians would have otherwise been touring around the country. As for his main gig, Isbell\u2019s most recent album, \u201cWeathervanes,\u201d with the group the 400 Unit was released earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This indie-rock singer-songwriter (whose most recent album was \u201cHawaii,\u201d a 2022 collaboration with Day Wave) eventually shows up as the much-talked-about and elusive Acie Kirby, whom DiCaprio\u2019s hapless Ernest is tasked with finding throughout the film. While \u201cKillers\u201d is Pete Yorn\u2019s first big-screen acting role, he is no stranger to the Scorsese sphere. His brother is Rick Yorn, an executive producer of \u201cKillers\u201d and other Scorsese projects, including \u201cThe Wolf of Wall Street\u201d and \u201cGangs of New York.\u201d Rick Yorn also happens to be Scorsese and DiCaprio\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n Another noteworthy country singer-songwriter, Sturgill Simpson plays the bootlegger Henry Grammer. Though he won the 2017 best country album Grammy for \u201cA Sailor\u2019s Guide to Earth,\u201d <\/em>the guitarist has <\/em>turned Hollywood roles into a bustling side hustle. In addition to a recurring part on the HBO comedy series \u201cThe Righteous Gemstones<\/a>,\u201d he appeared in the 2019 drama \u201cQueen & Slim<\/a>\u201d and was on the big screen last month in the sci-fi opus \u201cThe Creator<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n This busy comedian and actor plays John Wren, a Native American investigator. Means boasts an eclectic filmography ranging from the 2014 comedy \u201cA Million Ways to Die in the West\u201d to a recent appearance on the series \u201cReservation Dogs.\u201d The son of the Oglala Sioux activist Russell Means (a Scorsese friend who died in 2012), the younger Means is perhaps best known for stand-up routines that reflect the Native experience.<\/a><\/p>\n The former White Stripes musician has a thriving career as a guitarist on his own and in groups like the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, but he can be seen at the end of \u201cKillers\u201d providing multiple voices for a radio play that explains the eventual fates of the real-life figures dramatized in the film. This isn\u2019t Jack White\u2019s first acting gig. When he\u2019s not at the helm of his indie label Third Man Records, he has found time to portray Elvis Presley in the 2007 music biopic spoof \u201cWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,\u201d and to appear in \u201cPortlandia\u201d and \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This harmonica ace plays the gruff Alvin Reynolds. Charlie Musselwhite is a Chicago blues legend who is said to have inspired Dan Aykroyd\u2019s Blues Brothers character Elwood. Lewis, the casting director, is a music fan who said she sought out Musselwhite after being taken by his weathered look while researching the Chicago label Delmark Records. \u201cKillers\u201d is the 79-year-old\u2019s most sizable acting role after parts in movies like \u201cBlues Brothers 2000\u201d and \u201cWindows on the World.\u201d<\/p>\n The film features several prominent members of the Osage Nation including Waller, who serves as the tribe\u2019s Minerals Council chairman. In the movie, Waller gives an impassioned speech about the plight of his people. Haynes, the casting director, said that much like the other Indigenous performers, Waller was discovered during an open casting call to fill the movie\u2019s 62 Native roles. \u201cHis daughter actually came through and she knew I was looking for a gentleman with long hair,\u201d Haynes recalled, adding, \u201cI told her that if she could get him to come in, I\u2019ll let him skip the line because I\u2019d love to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n Though not strictly a cameo, the actor doesn\u2019t appear till late in the film. Chosen by Scorsese and Lewis well before \u201cThe Whale\u201d led to a career renaissance<\/a> and a best actor Oscar win earlier this year, Fraser plays W.S. Hamilton, the defense attorney for De Niro\u2019s William Hale. Lewis said Fraser was an 11th-hour choice after another actor she didn\u2019t name dropped out.<\/p>\n This is also not quite a cameo, but John Lithgow doesn\u2019t appear until late in the film. The two-time Oscar nominee has enjoyed a long and eclectic career in roles that span genres, onstage and on the big and small screens. But this is the first time he\u2019s worked with Scorsese. Here he plays the prosecutor Peter Leaward in a series of courtroom scenes.<\/p>\n One of the three-and-a-half-hour film\u2019s most surprising moments occurs during the radio-play coda. It\u2019s Scorsese himself who reads from the obituary of Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone). Scorsese is no stranger to appearing in his own work, from his 1973 breakout \u201cMean Streets\u201d (he can be seen firing a gun during the car-crash finale) to \u201cSilence\u201d (a brief and bearded cameo in that 2016 drama). His turn in \u201cKillers\u201d serves as a fitting tribute to both the forgotten subjects of the story and the director who helped remind us of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nJason Isbell<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Pete Yorn<\/h2>\n
Sturgill Simpson<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Tatanka Means<\/h2>\n
Jack White<\/h2>\n
Charlie Musselwhite<\/h2>\n
Everett Waller<\/h2>\n
Brendan Fraser<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
John Lithgow<\/h2>\n
Martin Scorsese<\/h2>\n