Book review: The Making of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

by Sebastian · Published May 19, 2026 · Updated May 19, 2026

making of quentin tarantino's once upon a time in hollywood book glennie

Jay Glennie (author of, among other things, One shot: The making of The Deer Hunter) got the go ahead or blessing from Quentin Tarantino to write making-of books on some of his films (others are in the pipeline), the first being Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (see overview article and preview here). The book is massive, it is close to 500 pages. And, it’s a huge format – you’ll definitely need a bigger coffee table! It boasts color photos, posters, interviews, and introduction by Quentin and much more. It’s quite a thing to work yourself through this, getting lost in some of the image captions, flicking pages back to connect some of the dots or fight regular urges to re-watch the movie instantly.

It’s not any day that QT pictures get massive behind the scenes looks. As much as we know about the making of his movies, there is precious little in terms of – let’s say – set diaries (exception: David Carradine‘s diary for Kill Bill) or behind the scenes documentaries with actual shooting footage. On that note, I think for his last film he should hire someone to give it the Hearts of Darkness treatment. But I digress. The making of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood coincided with a very interesting phase in the world of Tarantinophiles, namely the director also becoming a husband and father and it seems a lot more reflective and introspect on the one hand as well as outspoken about his own life and thoughts on the other hand. He’s never been in so many podcasts as he was especially when he was promoting the novelization of the film (click here to learn more) and then Cinema Speculation, which is a fantastic companion book as well on the non-fiction end. If you soak eeeeverything up, then you’re getting a full picture, but that’s not always been the case with the making of Quentin’s films. This book is therefore a harbinger of a bigger change, who knows.

The first part of the book chronicles the pre-production phase of the film.

Right of the bat, Glennie shines in managing to consolidate so many perspectives into short chapters to give you a breadth of view. So many people got a say in this, for example still photographer Andy Cooper, who has taken pictures on Quentin’s sets since Kill Bill. His input allows us to learn a lot about his work and Quentin’s relationship to still photography. His name will ring a bell because for most folks on the internet, his pictures are the first official glimpses at Tarantino’s movies.

The chapters chronicle the emergence of the idea for the film, various influences and Q’s creative process. It does a great job chronicling the digestion such an idea goes through and in which sequence Q’s inner circle then gets on-boarded on the way to execution of his next film. This isn’t a technical depiction of all of this, it’s a story, and it reads damn well, not least because of Glennie’s writing style. You learn little technical tidbits though, such as Q putting up the initial cost of pre-production himself knowing that upon an eventual deal he will get reimbursed, this likely involves such things as opening a production office (Boss Film Productions in the case of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), organizing castings, travel for scouting, hiring a core team and whatnot.

These are great chapters because they tell in anecdotes how various pieces of the puzzle start falling into place early on in a production, from reading scripts, to hiring the right people, to going over the shooting schedule with Bill Clark. A lot of these anecdotes are not groundbreaking insights and any industry connoisseur or long time reader of behind the scenes reports, books or industry press will find these things fairly obvious, but for a Tarantino fan and lover of his films, these allow for a fairly illustrative, visual and intimate look how his latest film came together, taking into account Q’s experiences the decades before. It’s a wildly enlightening read already in this regard, and much of this happens before – at least in this case – a studio is even on board, which the book arrives at in chapter seven.

Quentin’s scripts have often triggered bidding wars or his team had studios pitch, at least in the post-Miramax phase of his career that is. Here they ended up with Sony Pictures – the second time, the first time was for Django Unchained. Round about here in the book I started feeling real excitement. The way Glennie chronicles the coming together of the production reads like an exciting documentary narrated by someone really hyperactive. It’s energizing to read about the deal-making, the prep work and the subsequent casting of some of Hollywood’s – nay – Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood‘s greatest names that would eventually star in the picture. Reading the book at this point feels like you’re allowed to be spider on the wall or maybe an intern on the production at Magnum Opus and you’re running errands for Quentin, for Tom, for Georgia, and so on. It also give you a way more tangible idea of what these people do and what their roles are.

A lot of things of course would have merited much deeper dives and are often just mentioned in passing, such as the fact that Quentin, Demian Bichir and Al Pacino acted out parts of the original play version of the film that was an original idea at an earlier point. What does it cost to shut down parts of Hollywood Boulevard for day and who lives in the house with the Beamer? We have questions, Jay! Jokes aside, the deep dives continue as more voices join the reminiscing. A very charming part is of course when Burt Reynolds sort of makes (unfortunately a much too short) cameo in Q’s life and career, the movie’s history and also this book. Warm moments abound also for example the casting of Julia Butters or Zoe Bell rejoining the gang. While we don’t learn too much about the actual interview process or casting techniques, etc. (it all remains very anecdotal), the chapters are full of these little magic moments that comprise the puzzle pieces falling into place to build this cast.

It gets interesting in chapter 13, which is 160 pages into the book, when the cast is coming together, table reads begin, and so on. Wouldn’t you want to have been there? At this point I’m almost jumping up and down on my couch out of excitement while reading it. History in the making! And it’s great that even actors and actresses that barely get any screen time or dialogue get their due here. And I was personally excited to learn a bit more about Nicholas Hammond, because he – or rather – the Wannamaker played by him in the film is one of my personal favorite characters and performances in the film. Now, this whole first part of the book is a marvel, despite the fact that I was left thirsting for a bit more technical and production insights etc., there was a tad too much fawning and praising by everyone, which gets tired at some point – and it ends with some key roles unfilled, since production seems to have started without Margaret Qualley on board, for example.

The second part of the book…

Starting at page 200, the book segways into the actual filming. A lot of these sequences to have an element of prep work and casting, but now it’s getting serious. Whether it’s the intricacies of filming at Musso and Frank’s Grill, rigging a functioning flame thrower or have Leo diCaprio sing and dance. One thing that stands out, and this is the point where I want to point this out, is that there’s one nice episode there that’s refreshingly not about people heaping praise upon each other, and that’s where for example Q was not satisfied with his set decorator’s job on Cliff’s trailer. It’s anecdotes like this one that bring fare more to the table than all the folks involved in the film reminiscing and outdoing each other praising the genius of everyone else involved, which gets a bit tiring after a while, even though Glennie does his best at pacing it along. And of course there’s so much more to Cliff that we know from reading Q’s excellent novelization of his film.

The other thing that makes the book great once the chapters transition even more into the shooting phase, is interesting behind the scene pictures, of which the book has less than I expected, but still a plethora of, along with artwork drafts of props, like a Bounty Law board game (I’d buy it!). But once more it’s the anecdotes that make it a rich story, for example you get to learn who Daren Metropoulos is and why he’s an associate producer. A recurring item is the guest appearance of Nicholas Hammond as Sam Wanamaker, one of my favorite characters in the film. I did mention this before, you see? Or how people got involved in front of the camera, whose home is behind, like Heba Thorisdottir, who I have had the pleasure of meeting personally some years ago. Furthermore you get insights into dance choreography, set design and props, makeup, stunt work, lighting and a bit of a time dimension of film production, for example night filming, how efficient Q is as a director, what worries him and where and when moments are reached, when everything just clicks.

Kurt Russell being part of the movie is of course essential because so much of what’s in the film is supposedly based on his life stories on film productions. The Man’s a legend, and even tough I personally am not a big fan of his cameo, I dig his narration and of course I dig the man. I met him once at the Grindhouse junket, and he was fun to hang out with. Even better: in the Russell chapter of the book, you also get to know who The Cobra is. And that, my friends, is prime QT trivia knowledge. But also, I like to connect dots, and another thing I loved about the film that gets no mention in the book I think, is that Rebecca Gayheart who plays Cliff’s wife, does have a QT connection of sorts: she was in From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (and she was on the TV show Earth 2 which I liked). But I digress. Other tidbits are a bit more obvious or have become almost common knowledge around the film, such as the whole music biz background of Manson. In a deleted scene, he is looking for Terry Melcher, who lived in Sharon and Roman’s house previously, and there’s a scene where Sharon dances to “Good Thing”… which was written by Melcher. I dig these types of connections. I digress again, don’t I?

Among the more touching moments (the really sad one being the passing of Burt Reynolds on September 6, 2018) is also the recurring development of Quentin’s relationship with the girl genius Julia Butters, which must be the most spot on casting ever. And how about knowing there’s a cut of the film without Rick Dalton fucking up his Lancer scene? Banger. Or Steven Spielberg showing up on set and getting his phone confiscated. Or the Spahn Ranch recreated just four miles down the road from where the original had burned down in the 70s. One thing that’s always a bit hard to wrap your head around with Tarantino movies is all these famous faces that sometimes barely get a minute of screen time. Once Upon a Time…. in Hollywood had one hell of an ensemble cast, and down to cameos it is full of (now – in some cases) famous people. Many get their due in the book, like Lena Dunham. Damian Lewis of course, but that’s a veritable cameo-cameo. And I have to admit, I don’t think I knew who Sydney Sweeney was when the movie was made, but could you imagine the entertainment world without her, today? Unfathomable. And there she was, barely in a shot or two.

Other instructive parts that I got a kick out of was how Mary Ramos, Quentin’s music go-getter since the early days, tracked down a piece of film score and they ended up with the elusive composer recording something on his guitar instead. And the book offers some nice rare photos in so many places, like in the section about the legendary Renato Casaro designing faux spaghetti western posters for the film. The ultimate chapters deal with the chaotic and violent climax, its choreography and what it meant to all involved – and how the ending harks back to The 14 Fists of McClusky, one of the most brilliant story arches or connections in the film if you ask me. There’s also some solid behind the scenes photographs of this episode as well and an explanation why Jarre’s piece from The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean plays in the end.

The third and final parts of the book…

The penultimate forty or so pages deal with the post production, once it was clear the film would make Cannes. Post-production has always been a special interest of Tarantino fans, not just since the unfortunate loss of Q’s long-time editor Sally Menke, or because Q hardly ever uses computer generated imagery (CGI), but because it’s generally been an aspect of his film-making that’s been underrepresented in reporting, whereas for example the Scorsese-Schoonmaker work process has been extensively studied and reported on. So chapter 30 here is a special delight, one I hope Glennie will one-up when turning his attention to making-of books to Quentin’s other films. As readers we get a good insight into how him and Fred Raskin cut and polish the final product. And who wouldn’t wanna play mouse during one of their Margarita Fridays after a long week of editing? At the same time, the role of music in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is slightly different from Quentin’s other films, and so learning about how the audio component of the film came together is, I found, particularly enlightening. Tough to swallow on the other hand is new found knowledge of scenes deleted, with pictures of them included here, but those being nowhere to be found on the BluRay. Bummer Apocalypse for Tarantino fans! Scenes with Steve McQueen, with Sebring, with Butters, hey Quentin, we’re ready for that five hour cut now, at least I am. Some solace is the novelization, but not ever getting to see Tim Roth‘s appearance in the film, for example, is painful to know. I will not spoil it here but there is also some insights here into how the Cannes version differed from the eventual theatrical version.

The last two chapters under the title “legacy” consist of one chapter in Cannes specifically (with the lead up to it, and then the marketing, and the glowing initial reactions to the film); and one on awards season. It’s of course fantastic to read that this magnum opus worked out and the entire journey came to that epic conclusion, and we as readers got the joy of reliving that through this book. The film didn’t win at Cannes (boo, but hey, Parasite is amazing, too), and didn’t kill at the Oscars, but it garnered a flurry of nominations and numerous other awards, and it won the award of hearts and minds (and at the box office, too). What a ride, and hey, as a true epic, there’s also an epilogue in the book, with just a bunch of more quotes on the film, and pictures.

Conclusion

It took me forever to finish this book after I first posted about it about half a year ago (work and life interfered), but it is quite a tome. And I mean that in the best possible way. Glennie did the movie justice, and he especially did all those justice that made the film a team effort, and as such I think it stands with the great making-of books as a node to the teamwork that stands behind such huge productions. The book is an ode to Quentin and his filmmaking spirit and it was a fantastic experience reading it cover to cover.
Now, I have to admit that think the book would’ve been just a teensy tad better with (even) more trivia and insider knowledge, less praise-heaping series of quotes and a lot more technical insights, but books aren’t written just for the QT-superfans like myself, and that’s fine. The QT superfans sometimes scramble to learn a ton from too many pages (there are nuggets in between all the quotes), but that doesn’t mean these aren’t exciting reads, they are exciting.
One reason I had to read it cover to cover before reviewing it is that it is a fantastic journey through the making of this film, one that I totally and utterly recommend. It will make you want to rewatch the film and re-read the novelization. Congrats to Jay Glennie on a well made book and I hope we will soon get more of these on Quentin’s earlier films.