Jodie Foster Says Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Would Have Worked Better as an Eight-Hour Miniseries: ““If You Really Needed to Explore All the Male Toxic Masculinity, You Could Have Done That”
Jodie Foster shared some strong thoughts about Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon during a talk at the Marrakech Film Festival, where she was honored with a tribute award. While speaking about how filmmaking is changing, she said she believes the story in Scorsese’s 2023 film would have been more effective as a long streaming series instead of a long theatrical movie.
Foster explained that her experience working on True Detective opened her eyes to how much freedom long-form storytelling can offer.
She said that, in her view, streaming platforms have become the place where deeper and more detailed stories can be told. According to her, big superhero movies now dominate theaters, while more complex narratives have moved to streaming. As she put it, “Streaming is able to do things that we’re not able to do in traditional mainstream movies anymore… the real, real narrative is on streaming.”
Using Killers of the Flower Moon as an example, Foster said that Scorsese set out to explore the world of Native American life in the 1920s. But she felt the movie ended up centering mostly on the two male leads played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. She said, “What we had was a very interesting movie about two guys who go back and forth and talk to each other.”
Foster said many people expected a stronger focus on the Osage community and were surprised by how limited that part of the story felt. She pointed out that the filmmakers said there wasn’t enough time to include more, but she didn’t agree. She said an expanded series could have covered more viewpoints. She added, “If you really needed to explore all the male toxic masculinity, you could have done that, but you could have had episode two actually centered on the native story.”
Even though her comments caught some attention, they weren’t meant as harsh criticism. Foster and Scorsese have had a close relationship since he cast her in Taxi Driver when she was 12. Scorsese even sent a video message for her tribute ceremony the day before.
Jodie Foster suggests Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ should have been an 8-hour streaming series as she reflects on future of film @Marrakech_Fest pic.twitter.com/DHcHFrMjVP
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) November 30, 2025
Foster also praised Scorsese’s past TV work, including his 2016 series Vinyl. She said she hopes he returns to long-form projects because she believes he has a lot to offer in that format. She then talked more broadly about filmmaking today, saying many directors still push to make long features even when the story might benefit from a different format. She said she supports the growing separation between big blockbuster films, independent cinema, and the expanding world of streaming, which she feels allows creators to dig deeper into their stories.
In her view, long streaming series give filmmakers the chance to explore every part of a story without squeezing everything into a few hours. She said she enjoys the freedom that comes with that approach.
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