Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio showed up to cap off Sony’s presentation at CinemaCon 2018 in Las Vegas on Monday by teasing their forthcoming film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Tarantino is writing the script and directing the film, which is set in 1969 as the Manson murders and other forces were bringing changes to Hollywood. DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will star in the movie, and Margot Robbie is in talks to play Sharon Tate, but has not yet been officially announced, Deadline Hollywood reported.
A sizzle reel showed clips of Tarantino’s body of work, including his 1994 breakout “Pulp Fiction,” 2009’s “Inglorious Bastards” with Pitt and 2012’s “Django Unchained with DiCaprio.
“Sony and myself will be coming to the theaters with the most exciting star dynamic since Paul Newman and Robert Redford,” Tarantino told the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s very hush-hush and top secret.”
Variety reported DiCaprio will play former western TV star Rick Dalton, who is also Tate’s next-door neighbor. Pitt will be Dalton’s longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth.
According to Variety, the movie will be released Aug. 9, 2019, which is the 50th anniversary of Sharon Tate’s murder by Charles Manson’s followers. It will be Tarantino’s first film without the Weinstein Company.
Both DiCaprio and Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman praised Tarantino’s screenplay highly, with Rothman calling it “the best screenplay that I have had the privilege to read,” THR reported.
Tarantino ended the presentation by mentioning that he was a movie theater owner — of the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles — and saying, “I love movies, and I love movies in movie theaters.” He also thanked exhibitors for “keeping the show alive,” according to THR.