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by Blender Dumbass

Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".

You may think that 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon is the first time Leonardo DiCaprio have worked with Robert De Niro. In fact the first time was 30 years earlier in 1993 with This Boy's Life. Yet a lot of people will suggest Killers of the Flower Moon is still at least the first time both DiCaprio and De Niro worked with Martin Scorsese. That is also not true. That would be 2015's short-film, directed by Scorsese called The Audition.

More than that. A lot of people assume that the first time DiCaprio worked with Brad Pitt was in 2019 with Once Upon the Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino. That is also not true. The first time they worked together was in fact 2015's The Audition.

Even more than that The Audition is the first time Pitt worked with Scorsese. And the first time De Niro and Pitt worked on the same project.

This is some truly historical short-film.

But being historical doesn't mean much. How good is the short-film in question?

Dramatically it's properly Scorsese-like. It is a sort of comedy, about an uncomfortable situation Scorsese himself finds himself in. In the film Scorsese plays himself. And everybody else also play themselves. The meat of the conflict in the film comes from the fact that both DiCaprio and De Niro were asked by Scorsese to read for the same character in an upcoming Scorsese picture. And the comedy is their rivalry, as they are both trying to get the role.

The punchline, which I will spoil, comes in the form of Brad Pitt. Who comes out of nowhere. And in which Scorsese finds at the very least an escape from the two actors that are starting to hate each other to get the role.

The film is shot on a green screen. In some shots the green spill is still visible on Leo's face. There are very cool camera-moving establishing shots, reminiscent of Scorsese's work on Hugo. A CGI environment though which the camera flies freely that merges with something. Where the real actors could act their dramatic rivalry.

In some places the film's visual effects look kind of stupid and remind the aesthetic of the Star Wars prequels. Especially Episode Two. In other places, it is either that Scorsese could actually get a real location, or the visual effects guys actually achieved some magical magic. And the shots look good.

Happy Hacking!!!

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