Last week, we got our first look at Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The project has been steeped in controversy since its announcement, as it will pair the notoriously provocative director with a subject matter undeserving of glorification or gratuity: the Manson Murders.
At least, that was the initial concern. As we’ve learned in the meantime, and in Tarantino’s own words, the film is “not Charles Manson, it’s 1969.” Indeed, as more information comes out, we can see that the film is the story of a Hollywood – and an America – in a great metamorphosis. Not a Manson story, but a story where those famous murders are one facet of a grander tale, about the abrupt end of a free-loving, free-wheeling decade where every renaissance was tainted by inconceivable retractions.
To drive home the intended perception of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, let’s take a look back at all of the confirmed production and casting announcements, and use those confirmations to speculate what kind of movie Tarantino might have in store.
The Cast
In addition to Robbie as Tate, we know Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will play the leads, Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth. DiCaprio’s Dalton is a washed up actor whose transition from TV acting to film has been unsuccessful. Pitt’s Booth is Dalton’s best friend and stunt double, and the film’s plot finds them contemplating a trip to Italy to get into the spaghetti Western film scene. Dalton lives next door to Sharon Tate.
Although the first released photo of Dalton and Booth drew comparisons to Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, their described relationship more closely recalls that of actor Burt Reynolds and his stunt double Hal Needham. That pair collaborated on films like Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, and Cannonball Run, and were close friends; Needham even lived in Reynolds’ guest house for 12 years. Like Dalton, star of the fictional Western TV show Bounty Law, Reynolds starred in his own hit Western series in the 1960s: Gunsmoke.
In one of Tarantino’s trademark meta castings, the real Reynolds will also appear in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as George Spahn, a real-life rancher who owned Spahn Movie Ranch, where several Western films and TV shows – like Bonanza, The Long Ranger, and Zorro – were filmed. Spahn Ranch is also where Charles Manson and his “Family” lived at the time of the murders.
Other actors playing real-life people are Dakota Fanning as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (a member of the Manson Family), Damian Lewis as actor Steve McQueen, Emile Hirsch as hairstylist Jay Sebring (Tate’s best friend who was murdered alongside her), Nicholas Hammond as actor/director Sam Wanamaker, and Mike Moh as Bruce Lee.
(Excerpt) Read More at: SlashFilm.com
