Cara Jade Myers names her favourite Martin Scorsese movies
Few filmmakers are better known for their cinematic scope and general storytelling ambition than Martin Scorsese, the great American movie raconteur. While the director has thrived in the modern century, such epics as Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull stuck him on the map of world cinema, with his most recent movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, showing shades of this early career greatness.
Headed up by a trio of acclaimed actors in Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon is the story of the brutal murders of the indigenous Osage people that occurred in 1920s Oklahoma. Adapted from the non-fiction book by David Grann, the film sees Scorsese use a vast array of indigenous actors, with the likes of Tantoo Cardinal, Tatanka Means and Cara Jade Myers joining Gladstone.
Leaping right into the deep end of feature filmmaking, Killers of the Flower Moon marks the first major movie role for Myers, having only previously appeared in minor TV series and films. Given considerable freedom in her role of Anna, one of the sisters of Gladstone’s Mollie, Myers told us in an exclusive interview that Scorsese was “very hands-off” in his directorial approach, “When we talk to him about our characters and stuff like that, he’s very much like, ‘You’re the actor you build your character’”.
A considerable fan of Scorsese’s previous work, Myers also spoke about some of the director’s past films that have most resonated with her.
“I think definitely Taxi Driver because De Niro is just so incredibly creepy,” says of the Palme d’Or winner and Oscar nominee, “But, sticking on the De Niro theme, Cape Fear. I watched it again right before I left for set, and De Niro was insanely good. It’s funny, I told Marty that and he’s just like, ‘Oh God, filming on that water for a month. That was a nightmare. Like that whole end scene was such a nightmare in the water. Never again”.
With Myers’ only experience of De Niro being his terrifying character in Cape Fear and his unhinged role in Taxi Driver, it wouldn’t be surprising if she had been a little intimidated to meet the Oscar winner, especially since he also plays a horrid villain in Killers of the Flower Moon. Yet, as he has proven time and time again, De Niro is far from his on-screen characters.
As Myers testifies, “He’s so soft-spoken. He’s just quiet, he’s just chilling living his life. I very much enjoyed working with them”.
Take a look at a clip of Myers from Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon below.
