I’ve already discussed my qualms about Quentin Tarantino’s Charles Manson movie. I have SO many qualms. For one, the release date has already been set, and it’s the 50th anniversary of the Sharon Tate murder, which is just macabre and gross. Secondly, Tarantino is actually going to show some version of the actual murders, because he’s looking to cast Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, and we all know how much QT loves blood and gore. Three, I really worry that QT is going to do an alternative-history on the Manson Family murders, where suddenly there’s a “good guy” who, like, “saves the day.” And now I think I know who that good guy might be: Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to this film, making it the second time he’s worked with Tarantino.
Leonardo DiCaprio has said yes to starring in Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, which will reteam the actor and director from 2012’s Django Unchained. The new film, Tarantino’s ninth as director, was scooped up by Sony and already has an August 9, 2019 release date. The deal is expected to close soon, and this will become DiCaprio’s first film since he won the Oscar for The Revenant. DiCaprio’s will play an aging actor in the story that is being kept under wraps but is a Pulp Fiction-esque movie set in the 1969 Los Angeles during the summer of the Manson murders.
Tarantino has already asked Margot Robbie to play the role of Sharon Tate, and as Deadline has reported Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have been circling the project with DiCaprio for what is known to be two meaty male roles. The release date coincides with the 50th anniversary of Tate’s murder at the hands of the Manson family.
It’s “is a Pulp Fiction-esque movie set in the 1969 Los Angeles during the summer of the Manson murders.” The sh-t? Meaning, the Manson Family Murders are just a gory, blood-soaked backdrop for the story QT really wants to tell about an aging actor played by Leonardo DiCaprio. I don’t know. I mean, maybe it will be an interesting character study, you never know. But I have so many qualms.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I think that all of Tarantino’s movies sound bad on paper. I’m interested to see what comes of this.
+1
I agree. If this movie is like Pulp Fiction, it is going to be interesting. I love that movie. The timeline and media coverage of Manson Murders are probably going to be backdrop to the movie rather than the main storyline. How many people saw a description of Django Unchained, Inglorious Basterds or any QT movie and thought they were a good idea? Not many probably yet they turned out great and most people liked them.
+1. i have read a lot about how the culture was at this weird unsustainable fever pitch and the manson murders were basically the end of an era. there were so many weird hollywood ties to manson. to see a bunch of parallel stories in LA converge with the climax of these murders would actually be an interesting take on time in history. i think margot robbie is as sharon tate is really good casting. i don’t hate leo in this b/c his best work was with tarantino in django unchained. i really recommend the podcast “you must remember this” season about manson to get an idea of the breadth of this story and tragedy. it lays out hollywood at the time in a way that makes a pulp fiction-esque film seem really do-able and interesting.
i actually disagree that he would show gore around the actual murders. i don’t know why my instinct is that he would not show a pregnant woman being stabbed. i so think he would show the aftermath – which would be more effective.
I LOVE You Must Remember This!!! I was thinking about that season when I read about this. I think it will tap into that culture and has the potential to be really fantastic.
You Must Remeber This is one of my favorite podcasts! Her series on the Manson murders was excellent. It was very well researched and I cannot recommend it enough!
Me too. Not a big fan of his last two movies, but I think he could do something interesting with the Manson family. And the soundtrack should be AMAZING.
QT makes interesting movies that are not for the faint hearted or easily offended. You’re not going to mistake a QT movie as Nolan’s/Finches/Aflecks/Spielberg’s etc.
Personally, his storytelling and characters draw me in and I’m rarely disappointed. Loved Hateful 8 and it’s a movie I end up rewatching every time it’s on.
DiCaprio romantic life is boring but his movies are excellent.
I had a few less qualms when I heard that it’s only about Manson in so much as Inglourious Basterds was about Hitler. And it was a fascinating era that really punched Hollywood and hippie culture in the face in a brutal way. So I was intrigued….
Then I heard they were casting Sharon Tate with a name actor.
Ughhhhhhh. Yes because I’m sure Tarantino will find a non-exploitive use for a woman who was brutally stabbed while begging for the life of her unborn child. Yes…I’m sure he will be super respectful and tasteful. 😒 And that release date!
Now I’m side-eyeing again.
The story sounds interesting but the release date is in poor taste.
Leo DiCaprio is ugh no matter what he does.
Tom Cruise too? Ugh.
What his $ci minders would actually let him make this type of movie where he’s not the hero? Maybe he will play Manson. He got cultist down pat.
Love Leo on film. I’m excited for his return.
Would it kill Leo to do a film directed by a woman.
Probably.
Did Total Eclipse for Agnieszka Holland more than 20 years ago. So your assumption is false.
That Leo hasn’t found a female directed project in 20 years, I think that proves my (sarcastic) point.
I think it might prove that the industry itself is lacking in providing opportunities for female directors. I think that’s more of a black eye on the industry itself than him.
Even though I realize there are female directors like Angelina Jolie, I don’t think she’d cast him in the films she’s interested in making.
Run, Margot, Run!
Not going to watch it. It’s crass.
This sounds a lot like Summer Of Sam, which was set around the David Berkowitz murders, but it was more about the effects of the spree on the neighborhood where it happened than the murders themselves. The difference being, that was a Spike Lee film, and nowhere near as exploitative as this is shaping up to be. If QT manages to fight off his own instincts and takes a page out of Spike’s book, I’m sure we’ll all be pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t count on it though.
That’s the assumption I made too.
Leo can play Roman Polanski.
I’m thinking this will be Cruise’s part (the height)
That might be hitting a little close to home for Leo.
So disrespectful and wrong.
And I am so over Leo. He’s juvenile and gross and I can’t separate him from the parts he plays. I see him acting, not the character. I need a decade or so where I don’t hear about him and his middle-aged friends dating 20 y/o models and then, maybe then, I can stomach him on film again.
I have no problem with a “Pulp Fiction-esque movie” about that time or a crime committed during that summer. I do have a problem with a “Pulp Fiction-esque movie” about real people being slaughtered. Talk about exploitation.
I’m a writer and in my “Book of Ideas” I had an idea for a screenplay involving the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends as well as the Labianca family. I wanted most of the screenplay to center around who these people were and their relationships. I wanted to show them as real people who suffered an unimaginable tragic ending to their lives, not just a gruesome footnote to Charles Manson and his cult’s grotesque massacre. I was actually going to end the screenplay moments before the tragedy happens.
When I heard Quentin Tarantino was doing a Charles Manson movie, I thought, “Well, I guess I’ll keep this idea on the shelf for a while longer.” I fear once again, the people who died will be forgotten in the name of blood and gore.
I wish they didn’t give Manson any more attention. Just let the horrid creep be forgotten but the victims remembered.
Even if the movie isn’t directly about the murders, releasing it on the anniversary is exploitative and tacky.
No to all of it! Don’t see the need for this movie? We know what happened at that time & to these poor people, at the hands of a murderous brainwashed cult. As for the release date? How tasteless & insensitive to the people that were slaughtered & their remaining family & friends. Tarantino is cancelled anyway, because there is no way he didn’t know about Weinstein & others. As for Leo? He & his misogynist pussy posse can just fuck off. Not interested in anything relating to him anymore.
since I’ve heard this – not always here, but sometimes – said by hundreds of people about women, can I say this about a man?
what happened to his beautiful face? he used to be so pretty. he just looks sort of used car salesman bloaty.
Its what boozing, partying and womanizing does to a body.
I read recently about the manson Family and all the helter skelter thing, which I didn’t know about, and while I’m not easily disturbed I must say this was the most disturbing shit I’ve ever read. F these people and those who exploit their victims. Now a movie about the Tate family’s fight and legacy would be awesome, but there’s nothing to be learned from manson and co heinous acts.
Guess long gone are the days of Tarentino picking washed up or fading away actors as his big stars. One of the finger in the eye directors that would do it. His recent films have been star heavy and think they have suffered for it. Ironic Leo is playing one but isn’t one.
Jeff Guinn’s fairly recent biography of Manson is riveting & terrifying. I don’t need to see a Tarantino movie on Manson.
I will not see any Manson-related or themed movies. He was an evil, psychotic monster. His acolytes & followers were also depraved. I don’t care if they were poor, pitiful, abused people who “fell under Manson’s spell.” It’s all too horrible & sick for me to spend a minute of time being “entertained” (sarcasm) watching anything about Manson or his family of murderous creeps. Let the victims rest in peace. I knew Abigail Folger. The whole s**t show was sickening & tragic. I hope QT isn’t paying royalties to any of the relatives of the perverted perps for their stories.
Does Leo still date 20-something models?
I hope the victims’ estates sue to stop this movie. I really do. This is so insulting to the victims. I hope QT knows he can make a movie without using real victims’ identities.