EXCLUSIVE: Two and a half months after stepping up to become the producers of Killers of the Flower Moon, Apple has struck a first-look deal with its CEO, Martin Scorsese. The master filmmaker will base his Sikelia Productions banner at Apple in a multi-year deal for film and television projects that Scorsese will produce and direct for Apple TV +.
The relationship begins with Killers of the Flower Moon, the Eric Roth-written adaptation of the non-fiction book David Grann that Leonardo DiCaprio will die and Robert De Niro will star in. Apple won an auction with the $ 180 million + movie originally optional by Paramount returned to the market. Deadline revealed on May 27 that Apple won a deal that released Paramount theatrically the film. The film is produced by Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas at Imperative Entertainment. The film is in pre-production and is expected to hit Oklahoma in February.
Similar story
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way ink first glance with Apple
Berthed for years at Paramount – in 2015 the studio extended the deal for four years – Sikelia Productions was founded by the Oscar-winning Scorsese in 2003. The company manages and produces all of Scorsese’s projects, including: 2019’s The Irishman, 2016’s Silence, 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, the 2011 Hugo, 2010 Shutter Island, the 2006 Best Picture Oscar winner The Departed, the 2004 Aviator, and the Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl series. The documentaries include: The 50 Year Argument, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, A Letter to Elijah, Public Speaking, Shine A Light, and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. Coming to the docu front are An Afternoon with SCTV, an Untitled Fran Lebowitz project and Untitled David Johansen project, all in post-production.
Apple adds Sikelia to first views created with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson of Appian Way for TV and feature documentaries; Photos of Green Door by Idris Elba; Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions; A24 and Imagine documentaries; and children’s programming factories Sesame Workshop and Peanuts.
Scorsese is represented by LBI Entertainment and WME.
