Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)

[See Rad]

I might be the biggest Tarantino defender on this forum but there is nothing in his filmography, Jackie Brown included, that indicates that this will be a sudden and radical leap in his writing style. Perhaps it won't be a revenge film, but I'm sure it'll have all his usual trappings. Tarantino is much too bright a writer to make a movie that amounts to "Hey, Hollywood has changed, man. Did you know that one of the Beach Boys was friends with Charles Manson?" This stuff has been written about a ton over the last 50 years and he knows that.

I said a change in his style (directing style, not writing style) would be "nice to see." I didn't say I expected it. In fact I don't, as I don't think he's done anything remotely interesting since Jackie Brown. He's fat establishment.

Nor did I suggest that the relationship between Manson and Dennis Wilson would or should be reduced to "Hey, Hollywood has changed, man. Did you know that one of the Beach Boys was friends with Charles Manson?" You can say those things with an appropriately impressionistic or challenging style (à la Marker, not Oliver Stone) as a way of evoking differentiating moods, or providing frisson, or whatever. That's all I was suggesting. And I bet 99% of Tarantino's audience has no idea about Manson and the Beach Boys; 99% of the Beach Boys audience doesn't know about it (or about SMiLE or about the real contributions or personalities of each band member.) I'm sorry you find that boring, but I think it is an interesting and valuable tangent to the story that members of "America's Band" and relatives of "America's Sweetheart" (who has outlived her son, by the way -- imagine an interview with her in the film, or even if she just appeared in a cameo) and so many others were targeted or involved with the murders. And if you think the Polanski connection (given his past and his troubles after) isn't relevant or doesn't have potential as a theme or sub-theme of the film, again, I have no idea what to say to convince you.

[Roger Ryan]

...99% of the Beach Boys audience doesn't know about it...

The connection has been discussed in every book about the band, in both TV bio films, and rehashed by fans on all the message boards for decades. In fact, just last night I noticed that odious "reality" cable channel REELZ showed the Beach Boys episode from its Breaking The Band series, all about the dark side of the group - no doubt Manson was brought up with a reenactment featuring someone in a bad fright wig. Hell, the damn channel is airing something called Charles Manson: The Final Words on August 5th!

Yes, Tarantino will need to work around the tabloid aspect of this story for a fresh take.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

I remember in one of those TV bios Manson showing up and disappearing with weird, portentous pomp like Lincoln or Queen Victoria does sometimes in '30s biopics.

[eerik]

First look of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate:



https://www.instagram.com/p/BmJACWgnwaW ... rgotrobbie

[mfunk9786]

And that's why you cast Margot Robbie and not Jennifer Lawrence to play Sharon Tate

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I feel this is worth sharing, but this entire shoot seems to have taken over my social media by everyone who lives in Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, Hollywood Blvd. was transformed into its former self with old light poles and a theater being morphed into the Pussycat Theater, a chain of porno theaters that used to be found all over the city well into the video age. A week ago, the back parking lot of an old building on the outskirts of Downtown was morphed into the back of Chinese Theater with a gigantic ad for the Gary Lockwood/Jack Palance movie They Came to Rob Las Vegas, with a good fifty vintage cars in the lot and just about three blocks from my work. A friend who lives further out in Fullerton mentioned that the shoot had moved out there where there was a scene being filmed in an old style Taco Bell with its mission style architecture and done up with their design from the late-60s. It seems like every other day, I see a place I've driven by a hundred times turned into a set!

[cantinflas]

Lena Dunham joins the cast

[mfunk9786]

Very very funny, and I cannot stand Dunham whatsoever. I support this decision a thousand percent

[Big Ben]

And Maya Hawke is of course Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter. Hopefully this will put to rest the idea that animosity exists between Thurman and Tarantino.

[domino harvey]

Very very funny, and I cannot stand Dunham whatsoever. I support this decision a thousand percent

Am I missing something, what's the joke?

[mfunk9786]

No joke exactly, but it is sending the more immature, Zack Snyder avatar sector of Film Twitter into something resembling hysterics

[domino harvey]

Oh! I just looked at the comments for a Variety tweet about this and you're quite right. If Lena Dunham can't even ruin the House of the Devil, I somehow doubt she'll ruin this either

[Monterey Jack]

I must have missed the brief on who Lena Durham is and why her casting is going to "ruin" OUATIH.

[mfunk9786]

Few things are more tiresome than people pretending they don't know who a very high profile person is

[Big Ben]

I don't think Dunham as a singular individual is going to ruin such a large ensemble piece. As much as Dunham makes me cringe I doubt Tarantino would cast her if he felt it would be a disaster.

Best case scenario is that she plays the part well.

[black&huge]

I don't think Dunham as a singular individual is going to ruin such a large ensemble piece. As much as Dunham makes me cringe I doubt Tarantino would cast her if he felt it would be a disaster.

Best case scenario is that she plays the part well.

I think if anything she may overact the part. Something tells me her ego is skyrocketing. Few people are as cringe inducing to watch act like they know they're acting and feel they must go overboard than Dunham and Caleb Landry Jones.

I think this is a sign as well Tarantino may be losing grip with his eye for casting. However I remember how I first felt when Mike Myers was cast in Basterds and it didn't bother me at all when I actually saw him in the film. But Dunham just has such a shitty overall presence it's going to be a real challenge to accept this up until release.

At least Eli Roth isn't in this.... for now. But thank god his ex-wife is.

[mfunk9786]

Roth was downright magnetic in Inglourious Basterds, I wouldn't mind at all if he reappeared in another Tarantino film

[Big Ben]

Roth actually has a lot of talent he simply wastes it on grotesque things like Hostel. Roth is aware of what he's making and that it appeals only to a certain type of people and he is also most certainly aware of critic reviews. I find his films nauseating and appalling but at least Roth knows they're disgusting and he goes out of his way to assert that his films are not high art.

Dunham isn't like that. I can't remember specifically but I'm fairly certain it's an extra on the Criterion disc of Tiny Furniture that essentially states that you're a dumb ass if you don't like it. Said nonsensical hostility that soured me even more on whatever she was trying to do there. That total lack of awareness also permeates Girls where you get a show that markets itself as truth but really only represents a small part of society (Rich White Woman). Yes it's just grand that new ground was broken when Allison Williams got her butthole licked on screen but this is also the show were a character tries cocaine and suffers no ill effects.

I can see her casting working if she plays a sort of stoner hippie who thinks they're woke and so forth but really only ends up being blind buffoon. Perhaps that's a little too on the nose but I cannot fathom Tarantino would cast her if he didn't have a part he thought she could do competently.

[mfunk9786]

I wouldn't go so far as to call the Hostel films great, but I find both of them to be incredibly misunderstood. Regardless, that has nothing to do with whether he should be cast in a movie

[cdnchris]

Dunham isn't like that. I can't remember specifically but I'm fairly certain it's an extra on the Criterion disc of Tiny Furniture that essentially states that you're a dumb ass if you don't like it. Said nonsensical hostility that soured me even more on whatever she was trying to do there.

Not sure if you're suggesting Dunham said this in her interview on the disc, but it's what Paul Schrader basically says in his inane interview on the disc, if not in those exact words.

[Persona]

All this movie needs now is some serious Lutz Ebersdorf.

[Big Ben]

Dunham isn't like that. I can't remember specifically but I'm fairly certain it's an extra on the Criterion disc of Tiny Furniture that essentially states that you're a dumb ass if you don't like it. Said nonsensical hostility that soured me even more on whatever she was trying to do there.

Not sure if you're suggesting Dunham said this in her interview on the disc, but it's what Paul Schrader basically says in his inane interview on the disc, if not in those exact words.

All I remember is being shocked by the statement and I think it's a testament to my disgust that I forgot it was Paul Schrader of all people. At the time I happened to around folks who thought Ray Carney was the greatest thing to happen films ever and my animosity towards that type of filmmaking comes from that. I want to blot it all out of my memory not because it was traumatic but because it was dumb.

I think Dunham has the possibility of delivering something credible if given the right role and everything. And by all means mods please remind me of this post when the film comes out and roast me if I'm wrong. No doubt this statement will haunt me if she ends up being a Cousin Oliver or something.

[Altair]

Best case scenario is that she plays the part well.

Isn't that the best case scenario from any casting decision?

And has this casting decision not originated from a director renowned from getting good performances from unexpected sources? Seriously, how many times has John Travolta actually been good? This whole anti-Dunham thing seems hysterical - don't worry guys, you have DiCaprio and Pitt to balance out the feminism!!

That's sarcasm, by the way.

[mfunk9786]

Risking veering treacherously off topic, but I don't know that many people are particularly concerned about Dunham being a feminist, since there's very little evidence that she is. She's just an attention-seeking nuisance who is not very good at having pets

[bearcuborg]

Eh, I know she always had a soft spot for the oldest/longest held animals in shelters. Good on her.

I may not like much since Jackie Brown, but I’m also trying to remember any performance that wasn’t done “well” in a Tarantino movie.