'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Press Conference - Cannes Film Festival

[Applause] sorry photographers but we only have 30 minutes so take one shot not 12 Oh autographs Lee territory Lee photograph please photographers please DJ epilogue Boudicca je suis avanti las cosas bien que yo louisville fettuccine mt pilatus Louie who Votto costume present EBU the holiday D'Amico I receive ooh that was me FC come on guys yeah Musa - hello everyone a Bienvenue à la conference the press who once upon a time in Hollywood rivet revi do present any person is OTCs the podium sorry hello everyone welcome to the press conference for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and I choose the people who are with us today Center the writer the director celebrating also almost of this day the 25th anniversary of his pound or for Pulp Fiction mr. Tarantino one layer of the story that you saw yesterday is the story of the friendship between two men and after slightly on the decline and his stuntman the actor mr. Leonardo DiCaprio the stuntman mr. Brad Pitt next mr. Tarantino the story the film weighs another kind of thread in the story a friend in this friendship and that's Sharon Tate and the mansion family as Sharon Tate mr. Mack no go Robbie we could have an empty chair actually for one of the main characters of the film and that's Hollywood the work the biz the state of mind the place itself the omnipresence of the small screen as they used to call it then and the bombardment of commercials songs and news on radio congratulations by the way to you some team sitting next to me so my congratulations for your wonderful subtitles that you did for us thank you sitting next to me a person who fell II early on was an observer of what was happening on a Quentin Tarantino set Jackie Brown I think was your first outing with Tarantino and the making of Kill Bill 1 and 2 it was of course part of the course that she would one day entered the Tarantino family which she did as an executive producer with death Proof and grind and grind house and then Django Unchained and then hateful eight and then today miss Shannon Macintosh last but certainly not least the man the gentleman is - the men are born his mother Norma produced among others Dangerous Liaisons with John Malkovich and Glenn Close and burning secret his father produced more than a hundred films including extensive work with Joseph lousy secret ceremony those housed the go-between he also taught his son the importance of finding the right property to make into a film the son listened and did and came up with Harry Potter and the rest from gravity to Paddington one and two to fantastic beasts is history mr. David Haven good morning Peter Hall from the Toronto Star newspaper in Canada congratulations on the great movie question for Quentin Tarantino Quentin this is this topic of the Manson Family is sort of possessed the public mind for about half a century and also yourself more recently I suppose but can you sort of explain what you think the reason is why we're still so fascinated in this story that's a pretty good question i think i think we're fascinated by it because at the end of the day it almost seems unfathomable yeah i've done a lot of research on it and i think a lot of people have not done professional research but over the last of the few years either they read one book or two books or listen to the podcast that develop about our TV specials every three years or so and how he was able to get these girls and even these young boys to just submit to him it just seems unfathomable and frankly the more you learn about it and the more information you get in the more concrete it gets it doesn't make it any clearer it actually makes it even more obscure the more you know and I think the the UH the unknowingness of it the the impossibility of being able to truly understand it I think is what causes its fascination good morning Quintin I am really happy to see you up there I remember 25 years ago I think yeah find you a plate of spaghetti on the beach I remember that well and now you are like the hottest ticket here my question I said we they told us to keep it to one question I want to first thank Leonardo and Brad for the environmental and humanitarian causes you support that's very important my question is a philosophical one the characters did sort of a taking stock there was a very sweetness about them taking stock of where they were in life in their career and in their lives and this question is for you and Leonardo and Brad as you take stock of your life in career what insights can you share with us kind of a heavy lifting question Chazz in 25 words or less Quentin yeah yeah exactly well I can honestly say that my taking stock is different than it would have been three years ago or four years ago or even 10 years ago any almost any other time since I've known you Chazz because I just got married six months ago in fact you're sitting in front of my wife or sitting in front of you and I've never done that before and now I know now I know why I was waiting for the perfect girl so frankly to tell you the truth my taking stock is happening right now so I don't have any uh there's no bottom line at the end of it with a sum up because I'm right in the middle of adding the equations to this moment well is that right there okay well I'll make it quick just certainly in relationship to this character taking stock of my own life I immediately identified with this character in a lot of ways because I grew up in the industry and I and this guy is sort of on the outskirts of times that are changing and he sort of left behind and it you know for me ultimately it's just a an immense appreciation that I have for the the position that I'm in and and the fact that this guy is sitting Lee sort of struggling with his own path those his own his own ability to gain confidence and and persevere and get that next job I don't know I I immediately connected with them I have a lot of friends in the industry and I know how lucky I am to be in this opportunity so I just feel immense gratitude immense gratitude you know I see Rick and cliff the two characters that Quentin's created kind of as as one individual and it really comes down to acceptance acceptance of of your place your life your surroundings your your challenges your troubles and we find in in the Rick character we see someone who's who's who's hilariously so do you like feeling like put upon by life and it's not good enough life's against him with some the the greatest breakdown scenes I've ever seen by my friend Leo here and and then in the cliff character that that Quentin created you see a guy who's who's gone past that in place of acceptance with his lot in life quite a piece we'll take whatever comes and those of you'll figure it out as we go so it for me it comes down to acceptance if I may ask a question to Margo about her character which is based on a real life character there's is not or not how do you go about this there are two ways to go about this is you watch every single footage of Sharon Tate or you just go I don't want to watch anything but I will raise myself and my work on the character on the page how did you go about it I suppose I did a lot of research and watched and read everything I could but at the same time I think as an actor our job is to understand we'll try and understand what purpose our character serves to the story so more importantly it was why is this character in the story and to me you know Quentin said it's me early on she's the heartbeat of the story and for me I just saw her as a ray of light and I just wanted her to be light and that that was my job and my role to serve in this story so I kind of applied to myself to the character in that respect and in doing so I felt like I could honor the memory of real-life Sharon Tate who so many people said was such a bright light in this world thank you question from Brazil what do 52 Tarantino first of all thank you for existing there are several references throughout your film to real artists but two of them really made me move it in the film Sergio Corbucci and Ron le that was Tarzan and Doc Savage would you please tell a few words about those two persons oh jeez one of my my my favorite directors and and Django Unchained particularly was based on the work of serger cappucci and my version of it and so there so when I was going to have Rick go to Rome to make a Western to actually have him start his first western Nebraska gym with serger kabuki well that means Rick's doing good there's a lot of junky movies he could have made there but if he's working with Surgical Buchi he's actually working with one of the great masters of all time now he doesn't appreciate that Rick just thinks it's Italian junk but you know me forty years later would be really honored if I were to bump into Rick Dalton now I would be like so you worked with Sergio Corbucci but there was actually something funny because the clip that we show in the movie upper ratio and the dynomite all right that's actually from a serger kabuki movie called a moving target but I didn't have that one directed by a kabuki I had a directed by Margaret II for the simple fact that Rick was Rick was a little bit of a jerk on Nebraska Jim so Sergio Corbucci wouldn't have hired him twice and and then the well and mentioning a Ron Eli from the the Tarzan show I just liked the idea that now Rick is doing guest shots on other people's TV shows that you know he's not doing Mannix he's not doing you know the more a Perry Mason or these kind of shows it's like all kind of kid you know it's kitty science fiction or kiddie shows like Tarzan land of the giants Green Hornet yeah which again he goes right over his head he doesn't get it so it's just it's just ridiculous as far as he's concerned I just imagine I imagine a Rick sitting on his director's chair while Ron Eli dressed in his loin naked dressed in his loincloth sitting next to Rick talking to him about so were you almost in the Great Escape from Chile thank you for this wonderful movie Chilean dress one ask mr. Tarantino how's working with a Chilean uma a newcomer and let me say Francesca in the movie Lawrence I saw and who is your feeling in terms of empathizing with newcomers artists you know it's difficult to start in Hollywood well I'm uh I'm friends with Lorenza and I've seen her work before cuz she's done a few films from with my buddy em Eli Roth so I was very familiar with Lorenzo's work but I've seen her in like at least three different starring starring parts and but I didn't just give her the role she actually came in an audition but the thing that was great is not only did she learn not only did she learn the the dialogue in Italian she learned she learned about like 20 different phrases in Italian that she could also say even that whole thing when she's being interviewed by the cops that she just improvised that she just was able she knew enough to actually be able to improvise an Italian I was very impressed and I think she's very funny in the movie she's exactly kind of you know you know what she's almost like the the Italian starlets scatterbrain that you see in a lot of Italian comedies of that era the way you've revised history and taken this tragedy and something else and I'd like you to talk about your relationship to Roman Polanski and his work the you focus on Sharon Tate here he's barely in the film yet Rick talks about him you know as the greatest filmmaker alive so could you talk about his his influence on your work and whether you know him personally I've met him a couple of times I mean it isn't really talking about him as the greatest filmmaker a life he talks about him as the hottest filmmaker alive which at that time it's almost unfathomable now to think about how much money Rosemary's Baby made in its day back then if a movie made 8 million dollars it was like oh my god alright that made like thirty five million dollars or something I know I'm a fan of Roman Polanski's work but in particular Rosemary's Baby I like that a lot we bourgeoisie get my cantata hot Senora Lisa versatility look as you would do some Kootenay addition of a common polonski and so it isn't it don't do this could you put your translation I think you're gonna show me that girls really don't know their content until you see the video kazoo - andré polonski Pavillion - okay have you have you discussed and talked - 17 - - Roman Polanski about what what element from is that tragic element from his life you were going to use and how are you gonna use it in the film no I didn't know [Laughter] hello Brian Johnson from MacLaine's and Canada thanks for the exhilarating moment and can to all of you you've talked about Sharon taters channeling the light at the heart of this movie there are other women who are channeling a very profound darkness the Acolytes of Charlie can you talk a bit Quentin about how you how you viewed those women and they without giving anything away of course they do become a target of extreme rage in the film and in an age where any kind of you know violence against women or whatever is touchy ground you're treading on sort of some very tricky territory there so I'm wondering if you can address that as delicately as you can given the the plot issues yeah well I can only I can't really address the end of your I can't really address that much with de facto talking about stuff so I'll just focus more on the way the the gals are portrayed in spot and the spawn ranch scene and you know and also the Spahn Ranch scene took place before most of them before I mean the Gaul I think all the murders started so they were they were just this freaky hippie commune and that at that point in time in February 69 and look they're they're creepy no two three four ways about it but I tried to not even though there's a sinister Ness you see at the spawn ranch scene I also tried to just try to show a little bit about what their their day to day was there that he doesn't go there during a big event it's like it's even vaguely deserted for them and so you know you see Lulu and you see text and they're just giving horseback rides because that was actually part of their job that was how the spawn ranch made money either Alba rock groups going out there and renting Spahn Ranch for album covers for shooting purposes or just giving follow-the-leader trail rides through the Santa Susana canyons and and actually it turned out that like a the family members were really great at that they knew how to they knew how to saddle the horses and ride the horses and they were very personable with the customers when you see Lulu talking she's always calling the customers by their first name they were very very personable now I actually went horseback riding at six years old with my mom and my dad I don't know if we went to spawn ranch I like to think that we did all right we probably would just went to Griffith Observatory but I like to think in my mind that maybe we went to spawn ranch you know and one of the thing it was just Ellen there's a and just you know there's some things I couldn't get across but like for instance Charlie didn't let them watch television but squeaky could kind of watch all the television she wanted because she was stuck up at the house with George so in that situation when they're all sitting there watching the Paul Revere and the Raiders show what's happening that's the only happening Charlie's not there normally they wouldn't be all be able to watch TV that way I would just like to add really quickly I don't see it as a rage against individuals I see it as a rage against a loss of innocence that time 1969 when the Manson murders occurred this was a time you know building up to that there was you know there was a free love movement there was a lot of hope there was a lot of there was these new ideas floating out there cinemas new being being recalibrated and when that event happened and the the tragic loss of Sharon and others it was a what scares people might last so much today I think is because it was a sobering dark look at and at the dark side of human nature and in that that pivotal moment was a real loss of innocence and I think that's what the film so beautifully addresses this here it's on us more seriously Polly me some coccidia over trophies and let her demo I mean limit nostalgic jinkies youngsil resolutely your film is love letters then late 60s 69 particular question is for you all lip out door I can do you do you prefer the late sixties as opposed to the time that we are living in now do you prefer the time then in 69 our time to be able to make films in today's climate I preferred you know we're living today living the moment one of the fundamental themes acceptance we live today have to live today it's trying to make this world as good a place as it can be I can't go back to 1969 I hope you I don't have to translate thank you I prefer anytime before cellphones hello my question goes to Tarantino I would love to us I would like to ask you do you hesitate a little bit before you start the reconstruction of the story the story of real people the tragic story is it a difficult choice for you or not thank you know hi Helen Barlow from Australia hi Brad and Leo what's it like for you to work together for the first time this is the very first time as has been reported and if you ever missed out on roles to each other if there ever been times when you weren't friends and how well did you know each other before and how better do you know each other now Wow multitude of questions but I think it all relates to the same thing I think you know there was an incredible ease and comfort getting to work alongside Brad I mean we kind of grew up in the same generation got our start around the same time and and to be honest you know Quentin gave us this incredible backstory for our characters I mean he literally came to us with a Bible of their work together their friendship together what they've been through in the industry how they're now on the outskirts of this sort of new era in Hollywood and they're Outsiders and all that sort of fed into this immediate comfort and ease that I think he and I had with one another and look brad is not only a terrific actor but he's a professional so when Quentin puts you in these sort of improvised scenarios and we both sort of have a great foothold on our history and our character I have to say it was incredibly easy incredibly easy working with Brad and and I think they were we together forged hopefully a great cinematic bond in in a film about our industry together I would agree it was a great great ease and a really great fun I had a great laugh with him and it's that thing of knowing you got you know the best of the best on the opposite side of the table holding up the the scene with you and there's a there's a great relief in that and as Leo said we do we we have the same reference points we kind of came on at the same time we've been going through this at the same time have similar experiences to laugh about and I hope we get to do it again it was great fun were you ever tempted to visit the early stages of the production or pre-production to switch arts you and Leo no I don't think that way ok hi Jesse from that shelf um congratulations the film Argo thank you for icon yeah I'm wondering if we could talk about the Tarantino verse and what it's like living in Quentin's mind as the performance if we could talk about what it's like to inhabit this world that Quentin constructs in Quentin in many ways this is a reflection back on your own cinema there are echoes obviously to the Vega there's echoes to a shot out of Jackie Brown in some ways this is your own reflection back on your own career I'm wondering if now now that the film is done if you could give us what you've learned from what you have done and what you see moving forward in terms of your own cinema I think there is it wasn't meant to be ridiculously self-conscious but I think there was a there is a bit of a summing up of certain things that I wasn't I wasn't necessarily trying to do but they just started appearing I just remember when um one of the first people to read the script was my my first ad Bill Clark and he's been my first ad since Jackie Brown and on pulp fiction he was a PA and he's can't even imagine making a movie without him and so he came down to the house to read it because we weren't giving it out you have to come to my house to read it these guys and and he came down to the house to read it and so you know so it's okay so this is number nine huh okay you know he goes out by the pool and he reads it and he comes back down number nine is like all eight of them put together and I hadn't really thought about it like that but then you know there was just you know little things okay we'll take two more questions there we're okay go ahead I'm Rui from Portugal in theses in single vineyard PT the question is for no Leonardo I was wondering if Rick is really for you guys a great actor no but adding to your question which I think I'd like to say in combination just to talk about Quentin's very unique process there are a few people in this world that have the collective knowledge about not only cinematic history but music and television it's it's almost like tapping into a computer database and and the wealth of knowledge is unfathomable and it keeps coming and coming so in a way I really think this movie is his love story to the to his industry and he's put at the helm of it to kind of characters that are that are outsiders and that the 60s have come along and this industry is sort of passed them by but I think we all all of us at this table at one time felt like outsiders in the industry and and it's really a love letter to the industry and those people that he appreciates I think I mean we studied people like everyone from Ralph Meeker to Eddie burns to Ty harden all these actors whose work that he really appreciates from an artistic perspective who who contributed in his mind to this you know the this catalog of cinematic and television achievements and it says it's his love letter to the outsiders of the industry and that and that was what was most most touching about the story for me in a lot of ways but you know to me it's as film for him about coming home I don't know how else to describe it but it's it's it's truly a love letter to the the this industry that we're so fortunate enough to work in you know there was there was a scene I ended up taking out where it's revealed in the scene with Marvin the agent that at one point when McQueen was offered the Great Escape that he violated a little bit about whether or not to do it and he vacillated enough that John Sturges had to make a list of possible replacements and Rick's name was on the list and there was Rick in the three Georges apart my Harris and CHIKARA's and Rick and they kind of talked about it for a moment and Marvin says no it's a he doesn't like the story because he didn't get it anything enough of this damn story alright the Marvin no no no it's a good story we can see you in it and then we actually had a thing where you see Rick in the Great Escape you see Rick in the Great Escape doing a scene with the Nazi Colonel in this scene where the the scene that kind of made McQueen a star when he kind of stands up to the colonel and we pulled it off to a fare-thee-well it was great it looked good in fact I mean too scary I'm afraid that somebody's gonna do a Casablanca put George Clooney in it but it looked great and the thing that was really cool about it is you were like you watch and go yeah Rick would have been good Rick would have been good in the Great Escape I don't think we've been as good as McQueen but you'd have been good fire on the Erie from the New York Times I had a question the same question for Quentin and Margo Quentin you have put Margot Robbie a very talented actress actor in your film she was in the Leonardo with Leonardo in wolf of wallstreet i Tanya this is a you know person with a great deal of acting talent and yet you haven't really given her many lines in the movie and I wondered I guess that was a deliberate choice on your part and I just wanted to know why that was that we don't hear her actually speaking very much Margeaux I wanted you to also comment about being in the film in this part well I just reject your hypotheses I am like I said like I said earlier I I I always look it to the character and what the character is supposed to serve to the story I think the moments that I got on-screen gave an opportunity to honor Sharon and the lightness I don't think it was intended to delve deeper than like Brad also mentioned I think the tragedy ultimately was the loss of innocence and to really show those wonderful sides of her I think could be adequately done without speaking I did feel like I got a lot of time to explore the character even without dialogue specifically which is an interesting thing because I often do look to the interaction with other characters to inform me on the character rarely do I get an opportunity to spend so much time on my own as a character going through a day-to-day existence that was actually an interesting thing for me to do as an actor I actually really appreciated the exercise and felt that I could deliver what I wanted to on screen I'm afraid our time is up thank you all very much for being here [Applause]

Channel: Variety

Views: 1,715,742

Rating: 4.8595767 out of 5

Keywords: Once A Upon A Time Hollywood, Cannes Film Festival, Quentin Tarantino, Quentin Tarantino 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt Interview, Quentin Taratino Cannes, Quentin Tarantino Interview, Leonardo DiCaprio Interview, Margot Robbie Interview, Sharon Tate, Manson Murders, Old Hollywood, Tarantino Films, Actors, I reject your hypothesis

Id: OIlsmK_FqFM

Length: 34min 57sec (2097 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/YOUREABOT]

Brad Pitt seems like a super down to Earth guy. What a cool genuine human being.