Robert De Niro spanked Leonardo DiCaprio for real in Killers of the Flower Moon
Killers of the Flower Moon spoilers follow.
Robert De Niro spanked Leonardo DiCaprio for real during the filming of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, reckons cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.
In the film, white Americans want to get their hands on the oil found on land owned by the Osage tribe, and resort to murder to try and do it.
About midway through the film, De Niro's character William Hale takes his nephew Ernest Burkhart, played by DiCaprio, into a back room. Burkhart has married into a wealthy Osage family and Hale wants him to kill the in-laws so he can inherit all the oil-rich land.
Related: Killers of the Flower Moon true story: What were the Osage murders?
Furious that he hasn't done so yet, Hale bends his nephew over and starts spanking him with a paddle, as if he were a child.
Speaking to Insider, Prieto recalled: "I do remember doing them quite a few times and thinking, 'Oh, that must hurt.' There was some padding on his butt. But you could tell De Niro was really hitting him.
"Leo is game for so much. He'll do anything."
Related: Killers of the Flower Moon lands Martin Scorsese's best opening in a decade
The film has released to some of the best reviews of Scorsese's career, currently sitting at a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Digital Spy's review is one of many praising the performances of both actors, reading: "DiCaprio's Ernest is a classic Scorsesean weak man who can be loving to his wife while capable of poisoning her to follow his uncle's plans. That two-sided, morally challenging aspect of the character makes the actor's performance more impressive, as fake teeth and airy personality make him a pathetic antihero.
"Here, though, Robert de Niro's masterfully wicked patriarch — leaning into his gangster-boss pedigree— and Lily Gladstone's stunningly restrained and dignified heir steal the show as performances become the essential core of a grand-scale movie."
Killers of the Flower Moon is in cinemas now.
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