Despite Oscar shutout, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' has most nominations of any Oklahoma film
Although it didn't win any Oscars, Martin Scorsese's made-in-Oklahoma historical epic "Killers of the Flower Moon" managed to wrangle 10 Academy Awards nominations, more than any other movie made in the Sooner State.
Filmed in and around Osage County in 2021, the biggest movie ever made in Oklahoma contended in top categories like best picture, best director for Scorsese and best actress for Lily Gladstone, the first Native American to be nominated for best actress in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards.
The $200 million fact-based Western also joined the growing list of movies filmed in the Sooner State to be nominated for — and in some cases, win — Academy Awards.
Here's what you need to know about the Oscar-nominated films made in Oklahoma so far:
'Killers of the Flower Moon' (2023)
Nominated for the top prize, best picture, at the 96th Academy Awards, "Killers of the Flower Moon" has been heralded for spotlighting a dark and often-overlooked chapter of Oklahoman and American history: The 1920s "Reign of Terror," a series of brutal murders of Osage Nation citizens by white people scheming to steal their oil wealth.
Adapted from David Grann's best-selling book, "Killers of the Flower Moon" set at least seven Academy Awards records with its 10 nominations. Gladstone, who is NiMíiPuu, or Nez Perce, and Siksikaitsitapi, or Blackfeet, became the first Native American best actress nominee and just the fourth Indigenous nominee in the category for her portrayal of Mollie Kyle Burkhart, a rich real-life Osage woman marked for death in the Reign of Terror.
Del City resident Scott George became the first Indigenous nominee in the best original song category, as well as the first member of the Osage Nation to be nominated for an Academy Award for composing the music and lyrics to “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)." He and his fellow Osage Tribal Singers performed it in an historic moment on Sunday's Academy Awards.
The late Robbie Robertson, who died last August at the age of 80, earned his first Oscar nod posthumously for best score for "Killers of the Flower Moon." The guitarist and primary songwriter for The Band, Robertson, the son of a Cayuga and Mohawk mother, was the first Indigenous nominee in that category.
A previous two-time Oscar winner, Robert De Niro, 81, earned his "Killers of the Flower Moon" nomination for best supporting actor 49 years after his first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor for Francis Ford Coppola's mobster drama "The Godfather Part II" in 1975. That made De Niro the actor with the greatest length of time between his first and most recent Oscar nominations.
The Western crime drama also was nominated for best cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto; best production design for Jack Fisk and Adam Willis; best costume design for Jacqueline West and best editing for Thelma Schoonmaker, now the most nominated film editor in Academy Awards' history with nine career nods.
With his best director nomination for "Killers of the Flower Moon," Scorsese set two Academy Awards records: He has been nominated for best director 10 times, becoming the most nominated living director in Academy Awards history, and at 81, the New Yorker became the oldest best director nominee in Oscars history.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" is Scorsese's third film — after 2019's “The Irishman” and 2002's “Gangs of New York” — to get 10 Academy Award nominations but not win a single Oscar.
Christopher Nolan's atomic bomb biopic "Oppenheimer" dominated this year's Academy Awards with seven wins, including best picture, best director, best actor for Cillian Murphy and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.
'Minari' (2020)
Filmed in the Tulsa area in 2019, "Minari" was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture, best actor for Steven Yeun and best director and original screenplay for Lee Isaac Chung.
Chung’s powerful and poetic film stars Yeun (the first Asian American to be nominated for a best actor Oscar) as the patriarch of a Korean immigrant family who relocates in the 1980s from Los Angeles to rural Arkansas to start a farm. He, his dubious wife Monica (Yeri Han), their two lively children — Anne (Noel Kate Cho) and David (Alan Kim) — and his feisty mother-in-law Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung) weather tragedy and triumph in their quest to build a life in the Heartland.
The first Korean actress ever nominated in the history of the Oscars, Youn, then 73, made history by winning the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her scene-stealing turn in "Minari."
At the 2021 Academy Awards, Chloé Zhao's drama "Nomadland" was the top winner, earning best picture, best director for Zhao and best actress for Frances McDormand.
In 2023, Chung returned to the Sooner State to film his next movie, "Twisters," the follow-up to another Oscar-nominated Oklahoma movie, 1996's "Twister."
'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' (2020)
On his second American adventure, Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) traveled to Oklahoma City, where he encountered the comedy sequel's breakout star, Jeanise Jones.
Believing she was participating in a documentary rather than a mockumentary, Jones was recruited through her church, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist, to mentor Borat's daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova). After the film's release, Cohen donated $100,000 to the OKC church.
The mockumentary sequel was nominated for two Oscars — best adapted screenplay and best supporting actress for Bakalova — but didn't take home any statuettes for the glory of Kazakhstan.
'August: Osage County' (2013)
As the title suggests, Primetime Emmy-winning helmer John Wells ("The West Wing") filmed his star-studded adaptation of Tulsa native Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play in the same area where "Killers of the Flower Moon" was made.
Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were nominated for best actress and best supporting actress, respectively, for their turns in the family drama. Neither won.
Also starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor and Abigail Breslin, the movie centers on a dysfunctional family reuniting in their Oklahoma home during a time of crisis.
The big winners at the 2014 Academy Awards were "12 Years a Slave," "Gravity" and "Dallas Buyers Club."
'Twister' (1996)
Before recent powerhouse productions like"Killers of the Flower Moon" and the inaugural season of "Tulsa King" came to the Sooner State, "Twister" was one of the biggest projects to ever film in Oklahoma.
The 1996 action vehicle follows teams of rival storm chasers as tornadoes erupt across the state. Directed by Jan De Bont (“Speed”) from a screenplay by Michael Crichton ("Jurassic Park"), with cinema icon Steven Spielberg executive producing, it was a commercial smash. It earned more than $494 million at the global box office, making it the most successfully made-in-Oklahoma movie to be released to date.
The stormy movie starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton and Cary Elwes lensed in various Oklahoma hamlets, including Wakita, where the Twister Museum still revolves around the blockbuster.
"Twister" was nominated for two Academy Awards, for best sound as well as for its groundbreaking visual effects.
It didn't win either Oscar, but time will tell if the "new chapter," "Twisters," boasts the kind of effects that might attraction the Academy's attention. "Twisters" is scheduled to hit theaters on July 19 as a summer tentpole release for Universal Pictures.
'Rain Man' (1988)
The top-grossing film of 1988, this road-trip movie stars Tom Cruise as a low-life hustler and Dustin Hoffman as his long-lost brother who has autism and savant abilities.
Director Barry Levinson filmed the drama in Guthrie, Hinton, Cogar and El Reno — as well as outside the Sooner State in Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Los Angeles — en route to scoring a leading eight Academy Awards nominations.
The drama won four Oscars, including best picture, best original screenplay, best actor for Hoffman and best director.
"Rain Man" marked its 35th anniversary in 2023 with a special two-day re-release in theaters and its recent debut on 4K Ultra HD with a new restoration.
'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956)
The filming of this adaptation of Jules Verne's classic 1873 adventure novel lived up to its name, with lensing in London, Madrid, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Lawton.
Starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine, the movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards. It won five Oscars: best picture, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best editing and best score.
To date, "Rain Man" and "Around the World in 80 Days" are the only movies to film in Oklahoma that have won the Academy Award for best picture.
'The Grapes of Wrath' (1940)
Included on the National Film Registry due to its cultural, historical and aesthetic significance, John Ford's adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best actor for Henry Fonda.
Like Steinbeck's 1939 best-seller, the movie follows the Joad family as the Dust Bowl and Great Depression force them to leave their Oklahoma farm and head West to a fabled land of plenty in California.
"The Grapes of Wrath" won two Oscars, including best director for legendary helmer Ford and best supporting actress for Jane Darwell, who played Ma Joad to Fonda's Tom.
If you watch it, look out for the historic Beckham County Courthouse in Sayre.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How 'Killers' compares to other Oklahoma-made films nominated for Oscars
