Quentin Tarantino has locked in Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio to star in his upcoming film about Hollywood, Carles Manson and the summer of 1969. The filmmaker has also revealed the title of this project – Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
A press release from Sony describes Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as –
A story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor… Sharon Tate.
Although she hasn’t been signed yet, Margot Robbie is reportedly in contention for the role of Sharon Tate, the actress who was notoriously murdered by members of Charles Manson’s cult.
First off, coming from a filmmaker like Tarantino, a title like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood doesn’t feel like much of a surprise but almost inevitable. The director has expressed a fondness for the works of Sergio Leone – both in interviews and through his films, most especially his latest, The Hateful Eight – and this title echoes the Italian director’s Once Upon In A Time In The West and Once Upon A Time In America. It also sets a high bar for the film to clear, but Tarantino has never had such trouble in the past, so I don’t imagine it would be too much trouble for him to do so again.
Tarantino’s pick of Pitt and DiCaprio isn’t too surprising. The director has worked with the actors before and achieved some very good results. Pitt was the platoon leader in Tarantino’s war film Inglorious Basterds while DiCaprio earned rave reviews for his performance as an evil southern plantation owner in Django Unchained.
In the release Tarantino was enthusiastic about reteaming with both actors.
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.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is set to start filming later this year for a August 9, 2019 release.
