I’m looking forward to Quentin Tarantino’s next offering, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which hits movie theaters this summer. Set in California in the late Sixties, and with a story that incorporates the Manson Family murders, the movie features an all-star ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Luke Perry, Lena Dunham, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell and others.
There are a few photos from the production on IMDB, revealing some of the costume and set design. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt look great as the movie’s protagonists, a fading actor and his stuntman friend - a bit like a modern-day Robert Redford and Paul Newman from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Being set in Hollywood, there will be some celebrities from the time featuring in the story. One will be actor Steve McQueen, who turned down an invitation to the party at Sharon Tate’s home on the night of the murders that occurred there, and who will be played by Damian Lewis - I remember being struck by Lewis’ resemblance to McQueen when I first saw him, many years ago. Bruce Lee, who was teaching kung fu to celebrities in Hollywood at the time, will also appear. Lee was a friend of Jay Sebring, a celebrity hair stylist who helped launch Lee’s career, and who was murdered along with Tate. Other famous people of the time in the movie include Sharon Tate, Wayne Maunder, Sam Wanamaker, Roman Polanski, Joanna Pettet and Connie Stevens. The full cast/character list has not yet been revealed. I wonder if Dennis Wilson from The Beach Boys will appear? He became acquainted with Charles Manson, bought a song off of him and released it on a Beach Boys album with himself credited as songwriter.
The role of Charles Manson must surely not have been an easy cast. Manson will be played by actor Damon Herriman, pictured here with a beard from another acting role. Here’s a clip of him playing some felon-type character. I think he could be a good fit for the role. He’s actually set to appear in another unrelated TV series, playing a later-life imprisoned Charles Manson, and was apparently cast in that role before the Tarantino movie.
The set design photos also look great, and the set designers must have had fun creating an authentic look. Here’s Taco Bell in the '60s, and in the movie. Here’s a Pussycat adult theater (actually a photo from the '80s) and in the movie. I’m also looking forward to seeing DiCaprio’s character on the set of real life '60s TV variety show Hullabaloo.
On a more serious note, Tarantino is known for the violence that features in his movies, and he has received criticism for it by some, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the horrific murders perpetrated by the Manson family. His other movies have used fictional characters and events - essentially fantasy - but this time the people and events are real.
In any case, I think this has the potential to be one of Tarantino’s most important movies, so I will wait in anticipation.
