{"id":224007,"date":"2019-07-23T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T05:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=224007"},"modified":"2019-07-23T01:50:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T05:50:10","slug":"pitt-dicaprio-and-robbie-reconcile-a-changing-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/23\/pitt-dicaprio-and-robbie-reconcile-a-changing-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitt, DiCaprio and Robbie reconcile a changing Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: #OnceUponATimeInHollywood photo call in Los Angeles. (Photo<\/a>: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Once upon a time, not too far from Hollywood, two of the world’s biggest movie stars were talking about what it’s like to screw up on set.<\/p>\n

\u201cMessing up the lines in front of the entire cast and crew?\u201d Leonardo DiCaprio said. \u201cIt’s the going to school in your underwear nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s awful,\u201d Brad Pitt chimed in. \u201cWhen a scene’s not working. When YOU’RE not working in a scene…It goes beyond not being able to get the lines. You have 100 people there who are all ready to get on with their day and get home.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiCaprio hasn’t exactly had to resort to dunking his head in ice water after a too-late and too-fun night out, as his actor character does in \u201cOnce Upon a Time … in Hollywood .\u201d<\/p>\n

But Pitt? \u201cOh I’ve done that,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

The two actors, who skyrocketed to fame around the same time more than a quarter century ago, have joined forces for the first time in a major motion picture to take on their own industry, their own town and even their own egos in a time of great change \u2014 1969 Hollywood. Out nationwide Friday, it’s also reunited them with Quentin Tarantino.<\/p>\n

Once known only as \u201cTarantino’s Manson Movie,\u201d the actual film is something very different. Manson is a character, as are his most notorious followers. And of course, Sharon Tate is depicted too and played by Margot Robbie. But as with most Tarantino movies, it’s not exactly what you think.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best of what 1969 had to offer you kind of experience through Sharon,\u201d Robbie said.<\/p>\n

Like going to the Playboy Mansion with Mama Cass and go-go dancing the night away. Or rolling up to a movie theatre to check out your latest matinee and getting a free ticket because you’re on the poster.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe kind of represented the arms open, doors open sort of policy,\u201d she added. \u201cAfter 1969 and after her death, things kind of changed in Hollywood and people closed their doors and shut the gates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The light and the dark of the imminent end of the ’60s is the backdrop to what is otherwise a classic star-driven two-hander. \u201cOnce Upon a Time…\u201d is awash in nostalgia, showbiz lore (and cameos), wistfulness and Tarantino-wit that allows DiCaprio, as a past his prime television cowboy in a moment of crippling self-doubt, and Pitt, as his devoted stuntman, to do what they do best: Charm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think you can completely act that kind of dynamic,\u201d Pitt said.<\/p>\n

The change happening in Hollywood around 1969 led to many on-set discussions of what was going on at the time with the new batch of filmmakers upending the establishment and leaving room for the Coppolas and the Scorseses to break in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ‘take and wait’,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cLike, we’ll get the take but we’re getting through this story.\u201d Tarantino does that often.<\/p>\n

It also made them all reflect on their own industry at the moment, where streaming is disrupting the old ways but once again ushering in new voices. As producers, Pitt, DiCaprio and Robbie all find it exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat’s incredible is this wealth of talent from writers to directors to actors that are getting opportunities now. It’s quite extraordinary,\u201d Pitt said. \u201cYou see that we’re not so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiCaprio is even a little jealous to see some \u201cout of the box ideas\u201d and \u201creally ballsy storytelling\u201d that he tried and failed to get made just a decade ago now not only being financed, but made at a high quality too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s so many more opportunities,\u201d Robbie added. \u201cI’m very grateful to be playing roles in this day and age than perhaps when Sharon was.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it’s not lost on them that they all happen to be promoting a \u201ca big budget art piece like this,\u201d as DiCaprio called it, from one of the major studios whose future is going to depend on people actually going to see films like \u201cOnce Upon a Time…\u201d in a movie theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it becomes like a concert experience,\u201d DiCaprio said. \u201cPeople want to get together on the Friday night and feel the energy of the crowd and the excitement of a movie coming out that they’ve been anticipating rather than the isolation of being home. Hopefully that’s not lost in the sauce, because that’s half the fun of it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Upon a Time…\u201d is Tarantino’s ninth film, and, according to him, his second to last.<\/p>\n

Pitt and DiCaprio believe him too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always imagined it as his little box set that he wants to just hang up on the wall and that’s it,\u201d DiCaprio said. \u201cThat completes the Tarantino, you know, cinematic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tarantino 10,\u201d Pitt added.<\/p>\n

As with many button-pushing Tarantino projects, \u201cOnce Upon a Time…\u201d has been at the centre of a few heated public discussions, including the morality of making a movie about Tate and Manson, and the casting of Emile Hirsch, who in 2015 pleaded guilty to assaulting a female studio executive at Sundance.<\/p>\n

Then there was that tense moment at the Cannes Film Festival press conference where a reporter asked why Robbie’s character has so few lines and Tarantino curtly responded that he rejected the hypothesis.<\/p>\n

Tarantino declined to be interviewed for this article. But his response touched a nerve culturally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s an incredibly unique filmmaker,\u201d DiCaprio said. \u201cAnd whatever choices he makes, he’s one of those rare filmmakers in this industry that has retained the right to say, ‘This is a piece of art that I’m going to give to the world. And this is what this character represents, and this is what this character represents. And it’s my piece of work.’… That’s why we consistently want to work with somebody like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s clear his actors are in awe of him and what he brings to their art form. It’s the kind of admiration that can result in two true movie stars talking like fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know he’s got a four-hour cut of this?\u201d Pitt said excitedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d DiCaprio responded. \u201cI’m still waiting to see the four-hour cut of ‘Django.\u201d’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Once upon a time, not too far from Hollywood, two of the world’s biggest movie stars were …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":224013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224014,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224007\/revisions\/224014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}