ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Quentin Tarantino is back
Director Quentin Tarantino
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Scoot McNairy, Damian Lewis
Not so long ago, Quentin Tarantino used to let his scripts out into the world even before a frame of film was shot. It was called Publishing Day: a party would be held at the director’s house and anyone could swing by to pick up one of the dozens of copies lying around. Not any more. After a leaked copy of the unfinished Hateful Eight script went out without his say-so, Tarantino has become increasingly leery of the internet. But that’s not the only reason he’s being cagey about Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, his ninth and still very possibly penultimate film.
Instead, Tarantino wants to keep us guessing about what links the true story of Sharon Tate – savagely murdered by followers of cult leader Charles Manson – with that of a fictional fading TV star and his stuntman. “It’s all very hush-hush, and top secret and under wraps,” he told CinemaCon. “So I can’t really go into any big details of the story. But what I can tell you is that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood takes place during the Hollywood era of 1969. It takes place at the height of the counterculture explosion, it takes place at the time of the hippie revolution, and it takes place at the height of New Hollywood.”
Headlined by what Tarantino calls “the most exciting star dynamic duo since Robert Redford and Paul Newman”, Once Upon A Time… unfolds over two days, following former matinee idol Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), his sidekick Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) plus the ill-fated Tate (Margot Robbie) in a mosaic narrative.
“I’m incredibly excited,” DiCaprio said. “I think he’s going to transport us into a different era. I’m a huge fan of Singin’ In The Rain – movies about Hollywood, the backstory and the mechanics of how Hollywood works. And, as an LA native, being immersed in this era and time, he’s going to do it with such incredible authenticity. It’s one of the most amazing screenplays he’s ever written – and that’s saying a lot, ’cos he’s done some masterworks in cinema history.”
“I actually grew up in Los Angeles,” Tarantino confirmed. “I was seven years old in 1969, so I do have a memory of it. Jackie Brown was the last film [of mine] that took place in Los Angeles. Before that, it was Pulp Fiction – and this is probably the closest to Pulp Fiction I’ve done. It really is a Los Angeles movie, and it deals with a couple of lead characters and a lot of wild supporting characters that kinda make a blanket throughout the town.” DW ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD OPENS ON 26 JULY.
‘It’s one of Tarantino’s best screenplays… that says a lot’ Leonardo DiCaprio