A new Tarantino film is always exciting. I mean, he’s considered one of the best directors of all time, and whether you like him or not, you can’t deny that he always comes up with something unique and innovative that makes it to the lists of the best movies. In 2015, the year his last movie came out, he announced that he was planning on retiring as a filmmaker after releasing his tenth movie, so that means that if he really intends to do so, we’ll only have two more movies to enjoy and that would be it. For that reason, his new film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is a really big deal. This is so, not only because it will be his ninth movie (though technically this would be the last one, if we consider the Kill Bill volumes as two separate films), but also because he’s changing what he’s been doing in the past films and going back to his vintage greatness.
After a special screening of the movie at Cannes, an extended trailer has been released, shedding more light on the plot, but more importantly, we can finally know a little bit what’s the deal with Charles Manson in the film and how his story connects with these two new Tarantino iconic characters played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. So, let’s see what we know so far about the movie.
Since he announced he was writing his next film, he explained that the movie would take place in 1969 around the time Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. At first, people believed it would focus on Charles Manson and his cult, but he explained that it was only going to be linked to it, but not the focus of the film. As time went on, more details about the plot have been unveiled along with the actors that will give life to the story.
We now know it will tell the story of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a fading actor longing for the glory days when he was the star of a popular Western show. Now, he’s just trying to stay in the game in an industry that’s changed so much. Accompanying Dalton, we have Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his long-time stunt double. Dalton lives in the Hollywood Hills and is neighbors with none other than Sharon Tate.
In this new trailer, we get to see Booth being a guest at the Spahn Movie Ranch (the famous movie location and residence of the Manson Family) after befriending a member of the family. So, is he becoming part of this historical cult? Actually, it seems it will be more than just a random visit to the ranch, since we get to see some seconds of Booth and Manson together in which Booth seems to be somehow doing some work on the roof (so, is he part of the family?).
The ultimate stars of the film are none other than Leonardo DiCaprio, who gave an amazing performance as Calvin Candie in Tarantino’s successful film, Django Unchained. DiCaprio will be playing the role of Dalton, while the one and only Brad Pitt (also a former Tarantino actor, as Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds) will be interpreting Booth. Margot Robbie had signed on to play Sharon Tate after a huge controversy, since Tarantino was also considering Jennifer Lawrence for the part. Tate’s family said they didn’t believe Lawrence was “beautiful enough to portray her,” and whether or not Tarantino took that declaration into account, the part went to Margot Robbie.
Besides them, it was also announced that some of his recurring actors were collaborating once again with him, including Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight), Kurt Russell (Death Proof and The Hateful Eight), and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, and The Hateful Eight). Some other names that have been linked to the film are Dakota Fanning, Margaret Qualley (who seems to be the girl that connects Booth with Manson), Luke Perry, Damian Lewis, Emile Hirsch, Burt Reynolds, Timothy Olyphant, and the film legend Al Pacino (playing some sort of movie producer).
Since the first trailer was released we got to see some really cool references that, as we know, is what makes Tarantino a super cool filmmaker. Not only are we going to see some iconic characters from Hollywood’s history parading throughout the film (I mean, Bruce Lee will serve some cool martial arts moves and Sharon Tate as one of the main characters, or even a cool party at the Playboy Mansion), we get to see that the recreation of the city during the late sixties is also impressive.
Besides that, we also get to see some references to Tarantino’s previous films starting with Leonardo Dicaprio’s movie scene killing Nazis. We also get to see a scene mimicking Death Proof with Margaret Qualley driving with her bare foot over the car, oh, and also Kurt Russell giving us some Stuntman Mike vibes. And let’s not forget the fact that some of the fake Western scenes are actually the same location of Daughtry in Django Unchained when Dr. Schultz shows Django how to do the business.
Tarantino explained that it took him about five years to finish the story since he had always wanted to do something to honor the Los Angeles of his childhood and the last days of that Golden Age in Hollywood’s history. However, after the scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein (he’s been the producer of all his films) and the controversy he himself was involved in after Uma Thurman talked about an incident while filming Kill Bill, his plans were postponed.
After some exhausting weeks of offers (I mean, who doesn’t want to produce a Tarantino film?), Sony Pictures finally bid the highest and offered him the best conditions to make the film. Together they announced that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was planned to be released on August 9th (the 50th anniversary of the murders), however the date moved to July 26th, so we’ll enjoy it before.
We’ll probably we already have a teaser trailer and really cool posters, we’ll just have to wait for the real trailer and well, the movie, but so far, it sounds really great, since he had focused for such a long time on, let’s call them period films. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt being together in a film is something I’m very much looking forward to.
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