Superhero movies aside, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is arguably the most hotly-anticipated film of the year.
It is Quentin Tarantino’s first since 2015 and will weave together the stories of two fictional leads with one of Hollywood’s most gruesome and most-talked about real-life tales, the Charles Manson murders.
After nearly four years in the works, Once Upon A Time… received its premiere at Cannes Film Festival last week, where it was met with a six-minute standing ovation.
Yet at a press conference the next day, things soon turned slightly sour.
These ups and downs on the French coast are just the latest in a line of controversies that have already threatened to cast a shadow over the release.
So how does the movie remain one of the most talked-about releases of 2019?
Hollywood’s fascination with the Manson murders
In July 2017, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Tarantino’s was officially making headway on his ninth film. Their report confirmed that the movie would tell a story centred around the 1969 Manson murders, which saw Charles Manson’s followers (or ‘family members’) kill seven people in two days.
On the first day, four followers – Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian – drove to a luxury home on Cielo Drive, Los Angeles, which was being rented by Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.
Polanski was in Europe for work commitments but Sharon was there. Three of the family members (all but Kasabian) took part in the murders of the five people they found; the heavily pregnant Tate, her hairdresser Jay Sebring, two other friends Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski, and Steven Parent, who had been visiting the caretaker of the home.
They did not know the at the time, one of their victims was incredibly high-profile, and had no idea that the murders would become one one the most horrifying pieces of Hollywood history.
The following day, five members of the Manson family travelled to another area of Los Angeles and mounted a separate attack, which saw them claim the lives of Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.
The murders hit Hollywood hard for a number of reasons. First, because a star and her unborn child had died, in what police first thought was a drug deal gone wrong. Then there was the murder scene, which was gruesome and blood-covered – like something out of the horror films Hollywood was making at the time.
When Manson’s involvement – with his ‘Helter Skelter’ theory, cult and famous connections – became known, the incidents were cemented as one of the most shocking and brutal events in the town’s history. (If you want a deeper look at this, Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This… podcast is a must listen)
Naturally, plenty of filmmakers and showrunners have attempted to immortalise them on screen with varied results, the first film coming just a year after the murders took place.
Since then, there’s been countless projects and mentions; from a film starring Liv Tyler to a 2016 true crime series and references in American Horror Story, Mad Men and Netlflix’s Mindhunter.
Pre-production… and Harvey Weinstein
When The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Tarantino’s then-untitled film would – as rumours had suggested – tell the story of the Manson murders, their sources also stated that Bob and Harvey Weinstein would be involved in some way, as they had every single one of Tarantino’s movies up to that point.
When Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct and rape (he denied all allegations of the latter), Tarantino announced that he would no longer be working with his longtime collaborator, taking his project to auction instead.
Even though the film had no leads at this point, as well as a vague yet controversial plot, all of the big Hollywood studios were keen to get a slice of the Tarantino action.
After a bidding war, Sony was triumphant but the movie came with not just a high asking price (a budget of $95 million), but numerous caveats; Tarantino would have absolute creative control, a huge chunk of the profits and the rights will reportedly be passed back to him after 10 to 20 years.
The release date controversy
Tarantino’s decision to make a film featuring the murders was already raising eyebrows, so his decision to release it on the 50th anniversary of Tate’s killing did not go down well.
In March 2018, the late star’s sister, Debra, publicly slammed Tarantino, telling People: “These people are taking horrific situations and making them even more graphic than they were without any concern for the living victims of these crimes and I think that’s horrible and crass.”
The release date in particular left a sour taste for the family and just a few months after Debra’s comments, Sony announced a change to when the film would debut.
But shifting the date two weeks earlier, neither Sony nor Tarantino gave an official reason for the change and focussed on pushing ahead with filming and editing the movie.
We need to talk about the cast
After signing his deal with Sony when no actors were officially signed up, Tarantino set about booking a seriously impressive roll call of stars.
The two leads – a former Western TV series star and his longtime stunt double – are played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt respectively, while Sharon Tate is portrayed by Margot Robbie.
The rest of the cast includes (deep breathe needed) Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Lena Dunham and Rumer Willis.
It’ll also feature the late Luke Perry, who filmed his scenes just months before dying suddenly at the age of 52.
What do the reviews say?
Fast forward to May 2019 and Once Upon A Time… was finally ready to get its debut.
Writers from around the world attended the Cannes premiere, which was one of the most hotly-anticipated events on the film festival’s schedule.
After the premiere, the film was given a six-minute standing ovation and in short, critics were seriously impressed.
The Times and the Guardian were among the publications to give the film five stars, with the latter’s veteran critics Peter Bradshaw writing: Quite simply, I just defy anyone with red blood in their veins not to respond to the crazy bravura of Tarantino’s film-making, not to be bounced around the auditorium at the moment-by-moment enjoyment that this movie delivers.”
Vanity Fair also praised it, describing Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio’s efforts as “glowing star turns” and concluding: “This curious fairy tale may not be the truth, and it may prattle on too long.
“But when its stars align, and they let loose with their unmistakable shine, Hollywood movies do seem truly special again.”
But then there was the icy press conference
Less than 24 hours after taking a bow in front of the premiere attendees, Tarantino and his lead stars faced the press.
Everything was going well until, well, until it wasn’t. Don’t get us wrong, it wasn’t disastrous, but reporters in the room noticed the mood in the room change significantly.
The LA Times reported:
The most contentious moment during the question-and-answer session came when a female journalist from the New York Times asked the filmmaker why he gave a talented actress like Margot Robbie — who plays Sharon Tate in the late-’60s Hollywood period piece — such little dialogue.
‘I just reject your hypothesis,’ Tarantino said bluntly, a scowl on his face.
Margot then defended the actor, saying: “I don’t think it was intended to delve deeper.
“I think the tragedy, ultimately, was the loss of innocence. To show those wonderful sides of her could ultimately be done without speaking… I got a lot of time to explore the character even without speaking.
“Rarely do I get to spend so much time on my own as a character. That was actually an interesting thing for me to do as an actor.”
Eeeek.
Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is out in UK cinemas on August 14, 2019. Watch the trailer below:
