If you live in the Los Angeles area you’ve noticed over the past few months a number of iconic locations getting a retro makeover. They’ve all been remade to look like the late ’60s for Quentin Tarantino‘s ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As with an Tarantino film, there’s been plenty of rumors and controversy about what the acclaimed writer-director has been planning, and the fact that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set to feature the Manson Family ensured that outrage would be garnered before anyone ever saw a frame of the film. Now we’ve gotten our first look at Tarantino’s latest as Sony Pictures have just unveiled the first teaser for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and the teaser is just light enough on details that it won’t dissuade any naysayers even though it looks awesome.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Rick Dalton, a television star, who works closely with his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). All sorts of things are swirling around Hollywood in the late ’60s, including kung-fu legend Bruce Lee (Mike Moh), deranged dirtbag and failed musician Charles Manson (Damon Herriman), and rising starlet Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). How all these disparate characters intersect in Tarantino’s alternate history remains to be seen, but he’s assembled a hell of cast that also includes Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, and many more.
Tarantino and Sony Pictures will premiere Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at this year’s Cannes Film Festival before releasing the assuredly wild period piece into theaters this summer on July 26, 2019. Tarantino always subverts expectations and I’m sure that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will be no different, but until then it’s just going to be one of the most anticipated movies of 2019.
The official synopsis for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:
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.