QT's Manson Movie Lands Leo, Seeks Pacino
Details are emerging about Tarantino's Manson movie -- months away from production and scheduled for release on August 9, 2019..the 50th Anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate and others.
Leo DiCaprio's in, and here is Variety writer Mike Fleming's understanding of who he will play:
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I initially called him an aging actor, when I raced to break the story. What he plays, more specifically, is an actor who had his own Western show, Bounty Law, that ran on the air from 1958 to 1963. His attempt to transition to movies didn’t work out and in 1969 — the film is set at the height of hippy Hollywood movement– he’s guesting on other people’s shows while contemplating going to Italy which has become a hotbed for low-budget Westerns.
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An interesting and flavorful twist, yes? That 1958 to 1963 period is when Eastwood was on Rawhide, and a show called "Bounty Law" sounds like an ode to "Wanted Dead or Alive" with Steve McQueen. Its Eastwood who famously went to Italy to become a star; McQueen pulled the same trick in America the old-fashioned way: studio stardom.
And thus we see the outline of QT's approach to Manson. Given that "The Hateful Eight" was largely based on episodes of Bonanza and The Rebel, QT seems to still dig on that TV Western aura; the Spaghetti Western angle allows him to bring in his musical pal Ennio Morricone(through past or modern work, the man is OLD.)
And if memory serves, The Manson Family made their encampment at an old studio ranch used for ..TV Westerns.
More good news: QT says he wants Pacino for a role in this, and if there's an actor I'd love to see work with QT, its Pacino. He's a much bigger star than Richard Boone was, but it occurs to me that Pacino(since Scarface at least), like Boone in his prime, has been a flamboyant bigger-than-life line reader to beat the band. ("There's nothing wrong with ham if its well-cooked," sayeth Big Al.)
This would put Pacino in his first QT movie and his first Scorsese movie('The Irishman") in the same year.
I must remember to stay alive through 2019....