Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!! Today is dedicated to another favorite of mine, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood! Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood is filled with great storytelling, intriguing characters, and an ending I’m sure everyone wished was real. So, steer clear of Spahn Ranch, always know where your flamethrower is, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• At first, the producers had difficulty convincing the vendors on Hollywood Boulevard to let them fit their premises with period facades to make the sets look more like the 1960s. After shooting in that section wrapped up, most of the vendors who initially protested asked if they could keep the facades in place because they realized how much they preferred the 60s look.
• Most of Rick Dalton’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) ranting in his trailer was completely improvised. Improvisation is a very rare thing in Quentin Tarantino’s films.
• When Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) goes to see her movie, The Wrecking Crew in the theater, the filmmakers chose to use clips from the actual film instead of recreating the scenes with Margot Robbie. This was done so a little piece of Sharon could be included in the film.
• In the film, Sharon picked up a book called Tess Of The d’Urbervilles for her husband, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha). In real life, Sharon gave the book to Polanski and said it would make a great film and that she would love to star in it. That was the last time Polanski saw Sharon alive. He later made the film, Tess in her honor.
• When Sharon was watching her movie, she took her shoes off and put her bare feet on the seat in front of her. Fans figured that this was just a typical Quentin Tarantino trademark. In reality, Sharon hated wearing shoes and avoided wearing them as much as possible unless the situation really called for them. She even went as far as to put rubber bands on her feet to give the illusion that she was wearing sandals when she ate out at restaurants.

• In the film, Rick and Cliff (Brad Pitt) watch Rick’s episode of The F.B.I. where an Army truck is hijacked. One of the film’s producers went to a local source to find a similar truck to recreate the scene from the show. To his surprise, he was taken to the actual truck that was used in the show. They cleaned it up, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and used it for the film.
• Brad Pitt ad-libbed his line, “You’re Rick F***ing Dalton. Don’t you forget that.” When he was a budding actor in the early ‘90s, a fellow actor gave him the same words of encouragement.
• Sharon Tate’s sister, Debra Tate lent some of Sharon’s jewelry to Margot Robbie to wear in the film.
• While Quentin Tarantino was location scouting, he stopped by Lee Van Cleef’s home where he saw that Van Cleef had a giant poster of his own face hanging in his garage. Tarantino thought this was both funny and strange, and he decided that Rick Dalton would have the same thing in his driveway.
• Debra Tate was understandably skeptical of the project at first. However, Quentin Tarantino approached her himself and discussed with her how her sister would be represented in the film. She later gave the film and Margot Robbie her blessing.

• The cream Cadillac that Cliff drives throughout the film belongs to Michael Madsen (Sheriff Hackett), another Tarantino regular. The car was also driven by Madsen in Reservoir Dogs.
• The party scene at the Playboy Mansion was actually filmed there.
• Burt Reynolds was originally cast as George Spahn, the owner of Spahn Ranch. Unfortunately, Reynolds passed away before he could shoot any of his scenes, so Bruce Dern stepped in for the role. Also, James Stacy was written specifically for Bill Paxton, but Paxton passed away while the script was still being written. The role ended up going to Timothy Olyphant.
• This was Luke Perry’s (Scott Lancer) final film.
• One of the Italian films that Rick stars in was directed by a man named Antonio Margheriti. Antonio Margheriti was the alias that Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) uses in Inglourious Basterds.

• Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis) has a brief scene in the film, discussing Sharon’s relationships. In real life, Steve McQueen was supposedly planning on visiting Sharon on the night she was killed but ultimately didn’t.
• During a script reading, Burt Reynolds was the one who suggested that Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) should say that Cliff is pretty for a stuntman. Tarantino later stated, “Had the line not been Burt’s, it never would’ve made it in the film. Brad doesn’t like characters pointing out how good-looking he is. But because Burt suggested it, how could he say no to including it?”
• Kurt Russell (Randy) and Zoë Bell (Janet) playing husband and wife stunt coordinators in this film is a double inside joke for Tarantino fans. Russell and Bell both starred in Death Proof as stunt performers. Bell was also Uma Thurman’s stunt-double in Kill Bill. Kill Bill Vol. 1 featured the theme to The Green Hornet and Bell and Russell were the stunt coordinators for The Green Hornet in this film.
• Quentin Tarantino wanted the Spahn Movie Ranch sequence to have the same vibe as the early scenes in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, especially in terms of sound design and production design.
• In order to keep the film within budget, Leonardo DiCaprio willingly took a 25% pay cut because he was really eager to work with Quentin Tarantino again.

• Quentin Tarantino worked on the script for this film for 5 years.
• Damon Herriman portrayed Charles Manson both in this film and in season 2 of Mindhunters. Both were released in 2019.
• After one of the filming days, Margot Robbie accidentally took home one of Quentin Tarantino’s “on-the-day” shot lists and she was afraid that he would ask for it back, so she didn’t tell him for quite some time. When she finally did tell him, he informed her that he pretty much throws them away when he’s done with them. He even offered to give her many more shot lists.
• The film’s cinematographer, Robert Richardson has stated that one of the most gratifying experiences for him on the shoot was getting to film Al Pacino (Marvin Schwarz) for the very first time. He’d seen all of Pacino’s films and he considered the opportunity to shoot him, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt in the same space to be a milestone in his career.
• After Fred Raskin edited the film for the first time, the runtime was about 4 hours and 20 minutes long.

• Leonardo DiCaprio was the one who suggested that Rick forgets his lines on the Lancer set. Quentin Tarantino was resistant at first because he wanted to shoot the western scenes straight. DiCaprio felt that it was important that Rick’s fading star was shown in the scene so they shot it both ways and when Tarantino saw Rick blow his lines, he was ultimately convinced to keep it in.
• To preserve the period vibe, Quentin Tarantino forbade the cast from using their smartphones on set in between takes.
• J. Cheung was offered the role of Bruce Lee, but he declined due to how Bruce would be portrayed in the film.
• The part of Marvin Schwarz was written specifically for Al Pacino.
• Leonardo DiCaprio had a very strict workout routine in order to successfully play an action star. He gave up pasta and desserts and did around 100 push-ups a day.

• When Rick is served by a Pan Am stewardess on his flight, the stewardess was played by Margot Robbie. Only her hands, arms, and uniform are shown.
• In the scene where Rick confronted the Manson murderers, the sound of the car was dubbed from the same sound as the car from the movie, Christine. In that film, the owner called Christine a mechanical a**hole, and in this film, Rick called their car the same thing.
• At one point, Quentin Tarantino considered shooting the film in black & white.
• Steven Spielberg was on set while the scene with Rick and Trudi (Julia Butters) was being filmed. After watching Butters’ performance, he was determined to cast her in a movie someday. He kept his word as he later cast her in The Fablemans.
• The song that the Manson girls sing at the beginning of the film was an actual song that Charles Manson and the girls wrote.

• Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee was very disappointed with the way her father was portrayed in this film. She felt that he was sorely misrepresented as an “arrogant blowhard who was full of hot air.”
• To more accurately portray a hippie Manson follower, Margaret Qualley (Pussycat) let her armpit hair grow out over the course of the shoot.
• The novilization of the film confirmed that Cliff killed his wife, Billie (Rebecca Gayheart). Cliff shot her with a spear gun after she yelled at him and attempted to slap him. The police accepted his false story that it was an accident and Billie was so widely disliked that no one tried to get the case reopened.
• Perla Haney-Jardine, who plays B.B. in Kill Bill Vol. 2, makes a brief cameo as the young hippie who sells Cliff the acid-dipped cigarette.
• In order to make Pussycat’s feet look realistically dirty, cocoa powder and pencil lead were applied to them.

• Charlie Day was approached to audition for the role of Charles Manson but he turned it down to work on his own film.
• Austin Butler (Tex) turned down the role of Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick to be in this film.
• Samuel L. Jackson had a role in one of the Lancer shooting scenes, but the role had to be cut due to scheduling conflicts.
• During Rick’s flamethrower flashback scene, it’s speculated that Leonardo DiCaprio’s reaction to the flamethrower was genuine and Tarantino thought it was so funny, that he left it in the film.
• Michael Madsen jokingly complained to Quentin Tarantino that every character he plays in Tarantino’s films end up dying. In response, Tarantino gave him a small role where his character doesn’t die in this film.