Thread by @ATRightMovies

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD was released 4 years ago today. Acclaimed as one of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest movies and featuring an all-star cast, the behind the scenes story is as big as the film…

A THREAD

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Once Upon A Time In Hollywood started life as a novel. Tarantino referred to the project as his ‘Magnum Opus’ and developed it over 5 years. Over time, QT realised it would work better as a screenplay.

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When the allegations against Harvey Weinstein surfaced, QT severed ties and wrote to all major studios asking if they wanted his new script. After leaks on The Hateful Eight, Tarantino said they could send one representative to his agent’s office read the script.

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The secrecy was the same deal for actors. Brad Pitt later said "In order to read, I had to go to Quentin's house and sit on his patio." Leonardo DiCaprio read it in the same place.

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Sony won the bidding war and agreed to Tarantino's demands. This included a near-$100m budget, total creative control, and 25% of the gross. Also, Sony reportedly agreed that the film’s rights revert to Tarantino after 20 years.

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Tarantino has called the screenplay “probably my most personal” and said 1969 was the year that formed him. The title was an homage to Sergio Leone, who QT has always cited as an influence, and directed both Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America.

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Tarantino knew he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio as lead Rick Dalton. Having worked together on Django Unchained, DiCaprio wanted to work with Tarantino again so much that he reportedly took a 25% pay cut from his typical $20m salary.

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Rick Dalton is influenced by many sources, but none more so than Steve McQueen. Dalton stars in fictional 1950s western TV series Bounty Law, and in real life, McQueen starred in the 1950s series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, about a bounty hunter.

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Another obvious nod to Steve McQueen is where Rick Dalton auditions for the role of Hilts – a part played by McQueen in The Great Escape. This also marked one of the only times in Tarantino’s career where he used digital effects…

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Brad Pitt was originally reported to be in talks to play a detective investigating the Manson murders, and turned it down. Tarantino then considered Tom Cruise before then going back to Pitt months later about the role of Cliff Booth, which Pitt accepted.

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An influence on Booth was the legendary Hal Needham, who broke 56 bones, broke his back twice, punctured a lung, and knocked out many teeth. He worked on 310 films and directed Smokey and The Bandit.

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Pitt ad-libbed the line "You're Rick f***ing Dalton! Don't you forget that." Pitt said that when he was a young actor in the early 1990s, another actor said this to him as a wakeup call.

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Tarantino said as he was finishing the script, he got a letter from Margot Robbie: "She said she’s a fan of my films and would love… to be in one.” He’d been thinking about casting her as Sharon Tate and said “She was such perfect casting I didn’t have a second choice.”

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Sharon Tate’s sister, Debra, was sceptical about the film but changed her mind after meeting Tarantino and Robbie. She called Robbie a “dedicated craftsman” and even gave her some of Sharon’s real jewellery to wear in the film. Debra is thanked in the credits.

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We see Robbie’s bare feet (a QT trademark) when she puts them on the seat in the cinema. In real life, Tate would often go out in public wearing no shoes and even wear bands on her feet to look like sandals. This is why Tarantino asked Robbie not to wash her feet.

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Tarantino wrote the part of Hollywood agent Marvin Schwarz specifically for Al Pacino. And DP Robert Richardson said maybe the greatest experience in the film was getting to shoot Pacino for the first time.

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Nicholas Hammond played Sam Wanamaker – a real life director. Hammond played Peter Parker in 1977’s The Amazing Spider-Man and when Tarantino screened it at his New Beverly Cinema, Hammond got in touch. They met, and QT offered him the part of Wanamaker.

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Austin Butler played Manson Family member Tex Watson and said the audition process was a bit odd: "Normally you’re there for 20 minutes... I was there for almost 12 hours... ‘[QT] said, ‘Do you want to do it?' And I said ‘yes, you just made my life' and I gave him a hug.”

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Burt Reynolds was cast as ranch owner George Spahn, but sadly died before filming. Bruce Dern replaced him in the role. Also, the part of James Stacy was written for Bill Paxton, who sadly passed while the script was being written. Stacy was played by Timothy Olyphant.

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Luke Perry played Wayne Maunder and tragically died 10 days after filming wrapped on the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio said meeting Perry on the set was one of the few times in his career he felt star struck.

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Bizarrely, Damon Herriman played Charles Manson twice in 2019. Once here, and also in Netflix series Mindhunter. In his scene, Manson mentions Terry and Dennis – references to music producer Terry Melcher and Dennis Wilson from The Beach Boys.

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There was a deleted scene where we would’ve seen Manson ranting in gibberish (as Manson was known to do) and then shouting at Cliff.

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A QT regular has an appearance too. Michael Madsen shows up as Sheriff Hackett in Bounty Law. And the yellow Cadillac we see is Madsen’s. It’s the same one we see in Reservoir Dogs. Check out the Wilhelm scream too…

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British Chinese martial arts actor-choreographer J. Cheung was offered the role of Bruce Lee, but turned it down, calling it disrespectful. Cheung had previously turned down the role of Lee in Birth of the Dragon for the same reason. He was played by Mike Moh instead.

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Trudi Fraser was reportedly based on 1940s child actor Margaret O’Brien. When writing, Tarantino had the TV on in the background. Sitcom American Housewife was on and when QT saw Julia Butters he thought she’d make a perfect Trudi.

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Jennifer Lawrence reportedly met with Tarantino and read the script for the part of Squeaky Fromme, though it went to Dakota Fanning. And Maculey Culkin also read for an undisclosed part. Culkin called his audition “a disaster.”

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The cast list is even bigger. Several big names filmed scenes that didn't make it into the movie. James Marsden filmed scenes playing Burt Reynolds, and Tim Roth had a small role as a butler. Both parts were cut from the final movie.

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Bruce Lee's line about Cliff being pretty for a stuntman was suggested by Burt Reynolds during an early script reading. Tarantino said "Brad doesn't like characters pointing out how good looking he is. But because Burt suggested it, how could he say no."

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There are many nods to real life. As Sharon Tate tries to convince the cashier who she is, the cashier mentions Valley of the Dolls which makes her wince. In real life, Tate apparently hated the film and only did it as she thought it’d put her on the map.

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Scouting for locations, Tarantino visited Lee Van Cleef’s home. While there, he saw a giant poster of Van Cleef's face in his garage. Tarantino thought this was hilariously strange, so gave Rick the same thing on his driveway.

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Margaret Qualley’s character Pussycat is based on two Manson Family members. Her personality is based on Ruth Ann Moorehouse, and her name is a based on Kathryn Lutesinger’s nickname, Kitty Kat.

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We see James Stacy leaving the set of Lancer on his motorcycle. In 1973, Stacy and his girlfriend Claire Cox were on his motorcycle in the Hollywood Hills when a drunk driver hit them. Cox died and Stacy lost an arm and leg.

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Production Designer Barbara Ling was key. Hollywood Boulevard shop owners weren’t initially keen on allowing their premises to be fitted with 1960s period facades. However, after filming, many of them asked if they could leave the facades in place.

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Pandora’s Box – a club on Sunset Strip – had been demolished so Ling recreated it in a café. The James Dean mural was created for the movie. And the Van Nuys Drive In was made as a large-scale miniature.

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Timothy Olyphant said mobile phones were banned on set by Tarantino. And anybody caught using their device would be fired from the production.

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The Columbia Pictures ident intro at the beginning is the real. one from the 1960s. Columbia Pictures television arm at the time, Screen Gems, is also name-checked in the film.

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The part where Rick roasts the cast of The 14 Fists Of McCluskey was real. DiCaprio had to be convinced by stunt co-ordinators Zoe Bell and Robert Alonzo. Alonzo reportedly let LDC set him on fire first, to show it was perfectly safe.

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In the scene where we see Rick training to use the flamethrower, he flinches and asks if the heat can be turned down. This was DiCaprio talking, not Rick. QT thought his question and the response was funny, so kept it in.

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The moment Rick forgets his lines wasn’t in the script, it was DiCaprio’s idea. And the scene afterwards where he rants to himself in his trailer was entirely improvised by DiCaprio. This is why there are so many jump cuts – QT used moments from several takes.

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In the scene where Sharon goes to a showing of her movie The Wrecking Crew, QT made the decision to use the actual film rather than recreate it with Robbie. This was done out of respect to the real Sharon Tate, so she appears on screen.

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Tarantino told the crew he wanted the Spahn Movie Ranch sequence to feel like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. At one point we see a ranch hand in the background. This is Donald "Shorty" Shea. Who was killed by the Mansons.

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The ending was left out of the scripts on set to keep it secret from everyone - including the studio. The only people who knew the ending at the beginning of production were Tarantino and the main cast. Robert Richardson was told midway through production.

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Margot Robbie accidentally took home one of Tarantino’s shot list schedules. She found it months later and was afraid to say anything until QT told her he basically throws them away when he's done with them, and offered her loads more.

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The portrayal of Bruce Lee was controversial. Lee’s daughter, Shannon, said he was shown as "an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air." China refused the film a release in the country unless Lee was removed from the cut. QT refused and the film wasn’t released in China.

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We see an issue of MAD Magazine in Dalton's apartment, with Dalton on the cover. As a movie tie-in, MAD Magazine released a "Special Tarantino Time-Warp Issue" with the first 12 pages in black and white and a parody of Bounty Law on the front cover.

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On a budget of $90m, the film grossed $377.6m at the box office, a big hit and Tarantino’s second biggest hit after Django Unchained.

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To finish on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the fairytale ending when the Mansons turn up….

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