Writer/director Quentin Tarantino just greatly expanded the cast of his new film ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, assembling exactly the sort of excellent ensemble you can typically expect to see in his movies.
Already confirmed to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt (with Zoe Bell also involved in some capacity), the film
takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor… Sharon Tate."
Margot Robbie is now officially confirmed to be taking on the role of Sharon Tate, which Tarantino first met with her about ten months ago.
Also joining the cast in small, unspecified roles are a trio of actors Tarantino has worked with before: his DEATH PROOF and THE HATEFUL EIGHT star Kurt Russell; Michael Madsen, who was in RESERVOIR DOGS, KILL BILL, and THE HATEFUL EIGHT; and Tim Roth, who Tarantino worked with on RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION, THE HATEFUL EIGHT (pictured above), and the multiple director anthology film FOUR ROOMS.
The big new addition is cinema legend Burt Reynolds, and this is the most exciting Reynolds casting news to come out since he signed on to be in Paul Thomas Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS. Reynolds will be playing George Spahn,
an 80-year-old near-blind man who rented his L.A. ranch out to be used as the location for Westerns. Charlie Manson convinced Spahn to allow him and his followers to live on the ranch, in the months before they murdered Tate and six others. In exchange for rent, Manson coerced his female followers into hopping into bed with the ranch owner, and serving as his seeing-eye guides, per reports.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD goes into production soon for an August 9, 2019 release.