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The new film Killers of the Flower Moon may be one of Martin Scorsese’s best movies and is already getting strong positive reactions from critics. It seems all but certain that both Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, along with Scorsese himself, will be in the Oscar conversation again this year. And it seems DiCaprio certainly put himself through something of a physical ordeal for the new movie, as he gets spanked in the movie by De Niro, in a scene that required Leo to pad his rear.
Flower Moon cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto recently spoke with Insider and he talked about a scene in the film that surprised him because it wasn’t in the book the film is based on. In the sequence, De Niro’s character punishes his nephew, played by DiCaprio, by literally spanking him with a large paddle. DiCaprio made the decision to pad himself, which seems like a smart call, because according to Prieto, the scene took a few takes, and De Niro did not hold back. The cinematographer explained…
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.
It probably makes for a better scene to film if you don’t have to make De Niro hold back or edit around him smacking his grown nephew. So the rear-end padding was probably the way to go. Still, one assumes Leo could have talked about other options that didn’t involve him getting spanked by an Oscar winner, but that apparently would never have entered into the actor’s head.
Honestly, the padding couldn’t have been that significant, as it would have been noticeable on screen, so if De Niro really was spanking DiCaprio hard, he probably still felt it. Honestly, considering what DiCaprio put himself through for The Revenant, getting spanked was probably no big deal so this was likely just another day at the office for him. Though honestly, spanking a grown man had to be a pretty weird experience for De Niro as well.
Watching DiCaprio get spanked may be one of the more memorable moments in Killers of the Flower Moon, but it certainly sounds like the new Martin Scorsese movie is one that is quite memorable for a number of reasons. Critics who have seen Killers of the Flower Moon are giving it rave reviews, calling it one of the best movies ever made by this collection of stars who have made more than their share of great movies in the past. CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg Flower Moon review gave the film five stars. The movie is in theaters now and will arrive on Apple TV+ at some point in the future.