Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood - The Quentin Tarantino Archives

Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (working title: #9 aka Untitled #9 aka No. 9 aka OUATIH) is Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming and ninth motion picture. The full story is currently unknown, what is known is that the film is set in Los Angeles in 1969 (see below). The title was revealed on February 29th 2018 as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Experience a version of 1969 that could only happen Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood

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Main details and contents

Release dates: July 26, 2019 (USA, Canada), August 8 (Russia, Czechia, etc.), August 14 (France, UK), August 15 (NZ, Germany, DK, ES, NL), August 23 (Mexico), August 30 (Japan), September 18 (Italy) full list, October 25 (USA extended cut re-release). Premiere: May 21 (Cannes Film Festival)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Producers: David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, Quentin Tarantino, Georgia Kacandes
Cast: Leonardo di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Margret Qualley, etc. [click here for full credits]

Releases: BluRay | DVD

The Story

Official synopsis:
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

Synopsis (from Esquire magazine): “It’s 1969, a year of tremendous upheaval, not just in America’s streets but also on the backlots of Hollywood. The Golden Age is ending. The original studio system, which has been a source of stability and structure for fifty years, is collapsing as the under-thirty counterculture rejects traditional plotlines and traditional leading men. It’s the year Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy and The Wild Bunch break big—films that celebrate the antihero and upend the definition of what a matinee idol looks like. It’s against this background that we meet Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a declining star and a veteran of TV westerns. Rick has, through a combination of ego and dumb decisions, blown his chance to cross over into movie stardom like Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis). About the only thing he can count on is the friendship of his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). (Meanwhile, Rick’s agent, played by Al Pacino, is trying to get him to do a spaghetti western). Then, one night, Rick realizes he might just be one pool party away from turning his career around. His new neighbors, it turns out, are the golden girl of the moment, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and her husband, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), who is, thanks to Rosemary’s Baby, the hottest director in town. The stories of Rick, Cliff, and Tate unfold over three days or, as Tarantino says, in three acts: February 8, February 9, and, finally, August 8—the night when Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) dispatched four members of his “Family” to the house next to Rick’s on Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, where they found Tate, hairdresser Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), and three others. It was the night when, as Joan Didion famously wrote, “the sixties ended abruptly . . . the tension broke . . . the paranoia was fulfilled.” Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is a film that vibrates with ambition, with the entire cast performing at the height of their talent, inside a brilliant story.”

Trivia

More trivia here

Origins:
Tarantino has repeatedly stated that the movie is not about Charles Manson, but one of his victims, Sharon Tate, seems to be a main character in the story. “Those who’ve read it said the script has heart and a strong commercial appeal, and if there is a film of Tarantino’s it can be best compared to, it would be Pulp Fiction, which also was set in Los Angeles. The film will carry a budget in the range of Django Unchained.” (Deadline). According to Variety, the plot involves a male TV actor and his stunt double sidekick looking for a way into the movie biz after one hit series. The murder of Sharon Tate and her friends by the hands of Charles Manson’s murderous family is the backdrop to the main story. According to Tarantino via Sony, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is “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.”

Peter Bart & Mike Fleming of Deadline described Leo’s character more in detail as “an actor who had his own Western show “Bounty Law” that ran on the air from 1958 to 1963. His attempt to transition to movies didn’t work out and in 1969 — the film is set at the height of hippy Hollywood movement– he’s guesting on other people’s shows while contemplating going to Italy which has become a hotbed for low-budget Westerns.”

Leonardo DiCaprio (as Rick Dalton) and Brad Pitt (as Cliff Booth) are confirmed as the two male leads. Actors and actresses rumored to be in talks for roles are Margot Robbie (as Sharon Tate) and Tom Cruise. Said Tarantino: “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.” (Deadline, March 1)

Production:
Production began mid-2018 for a worldwide August 9, 2019 release, aiming for an R-rating. The budget is said to be approx $100 million. The deal with Sony Pictures is said to include first-dollar gross and final cut on the film for Quentin. In late 2018 it was decided to move the release date up to July. A premiere is said to be held at the Cannes Film Festival.

It will be produced at and distributed with Sony Pictures (worldwide). Producers are David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino. Executive and line producer: Georgia Kacandes. Quentin’s L. Driver Productions, Inc. and Heyday Films, Mr Heyman’s shop, are so far listed as production companies.

The film was announced on May 2nd to premiere in-competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Reception and box office:
The movie premiered in Cannes to positive reactions, but in order not to spoil the film, reviews scratched the surfaces. Screenings ahead of the film’s Los Angeles premiere yielded more, and mostly ecstatic reactions. See reviews for a rundown of reviews. In business terms, the movie earned already $5.8M in previews before opening on July 26 in the USA.

Extended Version
An extended cut of the flim was released in theaters in the USA on October 25, 2019 (approx 1000 theaters only).

For the home video releases, the following deleted scenes were rumored to be included, either reintegrated into the film or as add ons (to be confirmed):

Deleted Scene – Old Chattanooga Beer Commercial 49sec
Red Apple Commercial 1969 1:09
Full length Dalton singing Green Door at Hullaballoo 2:55
Scene from Bounty Law 3:50
Deleted Scene Charlie talks to Paul Barabuta and waves to cliff 4:57
Dalton and Wanamaker talk on set 6:53

The following new scenes were included in a New Beverly screening:

2nd performance by Rick Dalton on Hullabaloo singing “Dont Fence Me In” in Bounty Law cowboy outfit
Sharon Tate dancing to the song Absolutely Right by Five Man Electrical Band in front of psychedelic background (seen in trailers).
Cliff sitting on top of his trailer home drinking beer/watching Lady In Cement on the drive-in screen admiring Raquel Welch, which cuts to a post-Playboy Mansion scene of Sharon, Jay, Roman, Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips at Original Tommy’s hamburgers, while KHJ Boss Radio DJ, Humble Harve plays music. The camera moves to the parking lot where we see Mexican low riders, locals smoking weed etc.

There was also some talk about the movie receiving a modified treatment on Netflix (similar to The Hateful Eight) but that has not yet happened.