‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto: ‘I feel very privileged to be in this position’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

When Martin Scorsese strikes up a relationship with his cinematographer, the collaboration tends to last for more than one film. Throughout his legendary career, Scorsese has worked repeatedly with such top names in the art of cinematography as Michael Chapman (“Taxi Driver,” “The Last Waltz,” “Raging Bull”), Michael Ballhaus (“After Hours,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Goodfellas,” “The Age of Innocence,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Departed”), Robert Richardson (“Casino,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “Shutter Island,” “The Aviator,” “Hugo”), and now Rodrigo Prieto. The acclaimed cinematographer, who was an Oscar nominee for “Brokeback Mountain,” has been at Scorsese’s side for the last four of the master filmmaker’s projects (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Silence,” “The Irishman,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”). During that run, Prieto has received three Oscar nominations for his artistry.

“It is crazy to imagine that I could even one day in my career say, ‘Yeah, it’s my third nomination with Martin Scorsese for an Oscar.’ What are you talking about?” Prieto, who was nominated this year for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. “It’s thrilling and I feel very privileged to be in this position.”

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SEEJacqueline West interview: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ costume designer

Based on the book by David Grann and co-written by Scorsese and Eric Roth, “Killers of the Flower Moon” focuses on the infamous Reign of Terror in 1920s Oklahoma, where countless members of the Osage Nation were murdered by white residents in a conspiracy to steal oil rights. Grann’s non-fiction book used the events to track the rise of the FBI. Scorsese’s film tweaked that narrative to instead center on the romantic relationship between Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), one of the perpetrators of the murders, and Mollie Kyle (Best Actress nominee Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman whose family was killed in the crime spree.

“As the story’s point-of-view was evolving the way to photograph this was changing,” Prieto says of the project and its origins. “I kept presenting ideas to Scorsese and he kept talking to me about thoughts he had, and it all came back to how we represent stories. Because you see in the film, the Osage home movies and the newsreel footage, and in the photographs, period photos, and later in the film, we have the radio play – these are all versions of telling the story of the Osage so and we’re doing the same thing. So we thought ‘How do you show storytelling in a way visually?’ Well, through photography is what we thought.”

Prieto spent months researching the beginnings of color photography and landed on autochrome, a technique that was developed by Auguste and Louis Lumière in France, as a way to capture the white colonizers and murderers.

“This technique to create color was imported from Europe, you know, so that became a philosophically interesting way of representing Ernest and William Hale [Ernest’s uncle, played by Robert De Niro], whereas the Osage in their rituals, we try to photograph in the most naturalistic way possible in terms of color.”

SEEJack Fisk interview: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ production designer

Since its debut at the Cannes Film Festival last May, “Killers of the Flower Moon” has been hailed as a late-stage masterpiece by Scorsese with particular affection and attention paid to Gladstone. Her lead performance is a top contender for Best Actress this year and she’s already won numerous accolades from critics’ groups thus far.

Prieto says working with Gladstone was a “discovery.”

“The character Mollie didn’t necessarily read just on the page the way she did it. But as soon as we started filming her, I really started to appreciate the gravity she was bringing to this character and the sort of the quiet confidence. It was just such a beautiful thing,” he says. Prieto says they began to photograph Gladstone in a different way as the story evolved, moving Mollie closer to the center of the frame as “Killers of the Flower Moon” shifts to her perspective. 

“I think a lot of that came from her performance, we kind of changed the way we were shooting, just because of what we felt around her,” he says of Gladstone.

Prieto, who has worked with Ang Lee, Ben Affleck, and even shot “Barbie” for Greta Gerwig, says “Killers of the Flower Moon” was ultimately an experience like no other because of how it was produced — with Scorsese and his team in deep collaboration with the Osage community.

“It was just a beautiful thing,” he says of “Flower Moon,” which received 10 total Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Scorsese. “It was an important thing to tell this story that has been, till now, pretty much unknown. So it’s an honor to be able to be part of telling the story.”

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is streaming now on Apple TV+.

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