It hasn't been the best month for Quentin Tarantino.
First, Uma Thurman broke her silence on the Harvey Weinstein scandal in a New York Times story that also included references to a dangerous stunt gone wrong on the set of Kill Bill, which was her second collaboration with Tarantino. Online fury aimed at the director quickly intensified, and Thurman and Tarantino were both forced to make additional comments on the story, shifting the blame from the acclaimed auteur to Weinstein and the other producers who attempted to cover it up. Just when it seemed like Tarantino had weathered that storm, an old interview with Howard Stern resurfaced, where the filmmaker made shocking remarks about Roman Polanski's statutory rape charges, saying that the 13 year-old Samantha Geimer wanted to have sex with the Chinatown director. Tarantino later apologized both in a public statement and directly to Geimer, but all of this was bad news for the director, especially after he admitted to having some level of knowledge about the Weinstein allegations. With the stakes riding high on his next big-budget project at Sony, some believed that Tarantino's career could be in jeopardy.
While fans of the director (myself included) will have to wrestle with his off-screen actions for the foreseeable future, Tarantino will be moving full steam ahead with his next project. We've been hearing for months about this extremely secretive movie, which is set in 1969 and has something to do with the Manson murders. Now, we finally have some concrete information about the film, and man, does it sound like a blast.
For starters, the film is titled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Of course, any Tarantino fan will tell you that the original title for Inglourious Basterds was Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France, which itself is a play on Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time films. This is the perfect title, and for me, it might be the most exciting piece of information in today's press release.
Anyways, the bigger news is that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have officially signed on the dotted line and joined the cast, putting two high-profile stars at the head of Tarantino's ambitious project. DiCaprio is playing Rick Dalton, a former star of a Western TV series, while Pitt is starring as Cliff Booth, Dalton's stuntman. According to the press release (via Deadline), the story is set in 1969, at "the height of hippy Hollywood" as the two men struggle to find their way in a new and complicated business. But things take a turn because of Booth's neighbor, the beautiful and ill-fated Sharon Tate.
Margot Robbie has long been rumored to be Tarantino's pick for Tate, but nothing has emerged as official on that front. In the press release, Tarantino said:
"I've been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was seven years old. I'm very excited to tell this story of an LA and a Hollywood that don't exist anymore. And I couldn't be happier about the dynamic teaming of DiCaprio & Pitt as Rick & Cliff."
I know next year sees the release of Star Wars: Episode IX and the finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood might just be my most anticipated film of 2019. This movie sounds incredible, and I have a feeling we could be seeing an instant classic from Tarantino. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm feeling great about this one.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hits theaters on August 9, 2019.
First, Uma Thurman broke her silence on the Harvey Weinstein scandal in a New York Times story that also included references to a dangerous stunt gone wrong on the set of Kill Bill, which was her second collaboration with Tarantino. Online fury aimed at the director quickly intensified, and Thurman and Tarantino were both forced to make additional comments on the story, shifting the blame from the acclaimed auteur to Weinstein and the other producers who attempted to cover it up. Just when it seemed like Tarantino had weathered that storm, an old interview with Howard Stern resurfaced, where the filmmaker made shocking remarks about Roman Polanski's statutory rape charges, saying that the 13 year-old Samantha Geimer wanted to have sex with the Chinatown director. Tarantino later apologized both in a public statement and directly to Geimer, but all of this was bad news for the director, especially after he admitted to having some level of knowledge about the Weinstein allegations. With the stakes riding high on his next big-budget project at Sony, some believed that Tarantino's career could be in jeopardy.
While fans of the director (myself included) will have to wrestle with his off-screen actions for the foreseeable future, Tarantino will be moving full steam ahead with his next project. We've been hearing for months about this extremely secretive movie, which is set in 1969 and has something to do with the Manson murders. Now, we finally have some concrete information about the film, and man, does it sound like a blast.
For starters, the film is titled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Of course, any Tarantino fan will tell you that the original title for Inglourious Basterds was Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France, which itself is a play on Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time films. This is the perfect title, and for me, it might be the most exciting piece of information in today's press release.
Anyways, the bigger news is that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have officially signed on the dotted line and joined the cast, putting two high-profile stars at the head of Tarantino's ambitious project. DiCaprio is playing Rick Dalton, a former star of a Western TV series, while Pitt is starring as Cliff Booth, Dalton's stuntman. According to the press release (via Deadline), the story is set in 1969, at "the height of hippy Hollywood" as the two men struggle to find their way in a new and complicated business. But things take a turn because of Booth's neighbor, the beautiful and ill-fated Sharon Tate.
Margot Robbie has long been rumored to be Tarantino's pick for Tate, but nothing has emerged as official on that front. In the press release, Tarantino said:
"I've been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was seven years old. I'm very excited to tell this story of an LA and a Hollywood that don't exist anymore. And I couldn't be happier about the dynamic teaming of DiCaprio & Pitt as Rick & Cliff."
I know next year sees the release of Star Wars: Episode IX and the finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood might just be my most anticipated film of 2019. This movie sounds incredible, and I have a feeling we could be seeing an instant classic from Tarantino. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm feeling great about this one.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hits theaters on August 9, 2019.
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