Killers of the Flower Moon: Fans mock claim that Leonardo DiCaprio is ‘unrecognisable’ in new film

Filmmakers James Gunn and Ava DuVernay were among those to react to the audacious claim

Fans of Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese were excited this week by the first look at their latest collaboration, Killers of the Flower Moon.

The drama is based on David Grann’s best-selling book of the same name, and stars DiCaprio alongside Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons.

The film follows an FBI investigation into a string of murders that plagued the Osage Indian tribe in Oklahoma during the Twenties, after oil was found on their land.

However, one report on the first photo still of DiCaprio in character as Ernest Buckhart alongside Gladstone, who plays his wife Mollie, caught fans’ attention.

“Leonardo DiCaprio unrecognizable in first photos of new Scorsese film,” read a New York Post headline.

The claim prompted derision from many who pointed out that, in fact, DiCaprio was clearly recognisable.

Comedy writer James Felton responded: “When Superman puts on his glasses do you guys go ‘Clarke Kent you're not going to f***ing believe who was just here.’”

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay reacted with a photo of a baby with a highly sceptical look on her face.

“The only way this comment makes sense is if the person on the left is Leonardo DiCaprio,” one widely-shared tweet said, referring to Gladstone.

“Not sure if I'm comfortable with Leonardo DiCaprio playing a Native woman,” sports writer Duncan Smith chimed in.

“Completely unrecognisable. I can’t tell if Leo is the woman on the left or the one who looks exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio,” said another tweet, which received more than 48,000 likes.

“He must be the person in the left if he’s unrecognizable because the person on the right looks exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio,” director James Gunn joked.

DiCaprio then began trending on Twitter as more and more people pointed out that, in this instance, Leonardo DiCaprio looks exactly* like Leonardo DiCaprio.

Killers of the Flower Moon will be released in 2022.