Quentin Tarantino, a man who recently made news for a 2003 interview in which he defends Roman Polanskiās actions on tape, has cast Brad Pitt and Leondardo DiCaprio in his upcoming Sharon Tate violence fantasy, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
As reported by Deadline, the movie isnāt a direct retelling of the Tate murder, but a loosely-woven fantasia, sprung form the mind of a college film major with a penchant for āgritty realism.ā Per Sony, itās set at the āheight of hippy Hollywoodā in 1969 and features āRick 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 donāt recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighborā¦Sharon Tate.ā
Mmm. Intriguing.
The role of Tate will go to Margot Robbie; Tarantino was also reportedly in talks with Tom Cruise for the roles that Pitt and DiCaprio were eventually cast in. The news of a new Tarantino film is usually awarded with faint praise and cautious excitement from select corners of the world that care about hyper-masculine, aggressive, and generally heavy-handed interpretations of history on film. However, this filmāhis ninth, somehowāhas been overshadowed by a spate of deservedly bad press.
In the wake of Harvey Weinsteinās past transgressions coming to light, Tarantino spoke publicly about what he did or did not know about Weinsteinās behavior, making it seem as if he was being honest and forthright. In February, a recording of Tarantino defending Roman Polanskiās rape of a 13 year old girl on Howard Stern was sent to Jezebel shortly after Uma Thurman, a longtime favorite of Tarantino, went to Maureen Dowd of the New York Times and shared a harrowing tale of her time on the set of Kill Bill, when Tarantino made her do her own stunts, and she crashed a car into a tree.
Tarantinoās history of exacting fictional violence on womenās bodies on film does not give me much hope for the quality of this movie, but for Margot Robbieās sake and bodily autonomy, I hope she makes it through okay.
