Leonardo DiCaprio Attends Palm Springs Film Festival asKillers of the Flower MoonWins Vanguard Award

Mar. 15, 2025

Thursday was a big night forLeonardo DiCaprioand his latest film.

Aside from DiCaprio and Scorsese, the honor was also bestowed uponLily Gladstone, who stars in the film opposite DiCaprio and a supporting cast includingRobert De Niro, Tantoo Cardinal,Jesse Plemons,Brendan Fraserand more.

“This was a shared spirit of collaboration that this moved me so deeply in the making of this picture,” Scorsese, 81, said onstage while accepting the Vanguard Award. “And over the years I’ve been given the grace to make a bunch of movies.”

“And I put myself into every one of them as much as possible, for better or for worse,” the filmmaker added, going on to recall the intricate process ofmakingKillers of the Flower Moonand thanking those who helped bring it to life.

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Jerod Harris/FilmMagic

In arelease announcing this year’s Vanguard Awardrecipient, Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said, “Killers of the Flower Moonis a powerful and important film not only for its cinematic poetry, but also as a complicated story about the suspicious murders of members of the Osage Nation, one which fully illustrates the evils of racism and corruption."

From L: Robert De Niro, Yancey Red Corn, Martin Scorsese, Jillian Dion and Leonardo DiCaprio accept the Vanguard Award forKillers of the Flower Moon(2023) during the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Jan. 4, 2024.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

The film follows DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart as he travels to Osage County in 1920s Oklahoma and begins working for his uncle William K. Hale (De Niro, 80). Ernest eventually participates in Hale’s plot to murder members of the Osage Nation — including the family of Ernest’s wife Mollie Burkhart (Gladstone, 37) — in an effort to inherit the tribe’s oil rights.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone inKillers of the Flower Moon(2023.Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

At a press conference forKillers of the Flower Moonback in November, DiCaprio spoke to his decades-long history of working with both Scorsese and De Niro, dating back to the earliest days of his acting career.

“In a lot of ways these two men that we’re speaking to have beenlike cinematic father figures to me,” DiCaprio said, noting that he first costarred with De Niro in 1993’sThis Boy’s Life.

He added, “I got to do my first major starring role with Bob, and he and I worked together. He told Marty about me, and I’ve gotten to do six films with him now. And here we are 30 years later.”

As for his personal life, the Oscar winner will turn 50 later this year, and recently opened up in an interview with ABC News' Chris Connellyabout what he hopes to accomplishbefore then.

“You know what? Just one more movie,” said DiCaprio, hinting that he hopes to get back in front of the camera for another role.

source: people.com