When it comes to acting, you can’t expect Robert De Niro to fake anything. That’s why Leonardo DiCaprio wore butt padding to handle being spanked by De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto revealed to Insider.
In Scorsese’s latest, DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart is paddled by De Niro’s William Hale as punishment for throwing a wrench in the duo’s plans to rob the Osage nation. Though the film is based on a book of the same name, the scene is unique to the screen adaptation — and one Prieto said was a late addition to the project.
“I don’t think that was in the first script,” Prieto revealed. “That was something that was added, and it’s shocking in the film.”
The cinematographer continued, “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,” Prieto added. “He’ll do anything.” (The Revenant was proof of that.)
Killers of the Flower Moon is in theaters now and features a posthumously released score from Scorsese’s longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson. See where the Western crime drama ranks within the director’s filmography here.
