He and Lee are still evenly matched, but if there's anything Tarantino's book publicity rounds have taught us, it's that he's still prone to peacocking all over Lee's grave and then rebuffing any criticism about it. In the book, before Cliff meets Lee on the set of The Green Hornet, he already has a history as a "ringer," a day player brought in to teach actors like Robert Conrad a lesson for "tagging," or accidentally hitting someone for real during a fight scene. In the movie, it was Cliff, not Quentin, who fed his pit bull, Brandy, raccoon-flavored dog food. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel is unlikely to win over any of Tarantino's critics but then again, anyone who reads it is probably at least a fan (if not an unquestioning devotee or acolyte, who would be too caught up in the cult of personality, rather like Mansonites, to grapple with the author's peccadillos, as I am doing here). Cliff reacts against François Truffaut's autobiographical pretensions in The 400 Blows yet this novel and its opinions, voiced by various Tarantino mouthpieces, might have the same effect on some readers, namely people who aren't keen to hear Quentin tossing around the n-word like it's 1994 still and he's back in his bathrobe as Jimmie in "The Bonnie Situation." And Cliff found that intriguing." Let the reader understand that they are probably mainlining Tarantino's own thinly disguised thoughts. " didn't care if you liked the lead characters or not. The official book trailer, which includes footage not seen in the movie, tells us "he'd trade it all in to be a rock 'n' roll star" It makes you wonder if Tarantino's original plan for an Inglourious Basterds mini-series didn't involve some subplot about Hitler as a frustrated painter like in the movie Max. When Manson himself rolls up on Cielo Drive in his Twinkie truck, his mindset is that of a failed singer-songwriter desperate for a recording contract. We learn how "the hippie flamethrower incident raised Dalton's profile," enabling him to guest-star on Mission: Impossible and appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson all "throughout the seventies." Note that this takes us past Manson's summer of '69 reign of terror into some uncharted territory. He's no stranger to nonlinear storytelling, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel flashes both forward and back and the chronology occasionally gets confusing.Įven the movie's ending, a retcon that regurgitates the wish-fulfillment Nazi assassinations in Inglourious Basterds, gets reduced to a bit of backstory. Instead of dwelling on familiar moments, Tarantino prefers to slip between the cracks of what the viewer recalls. Details like this flesh out the film without deepening it since it loses ambiguity. Tarantino the novelist states outright that Rick self-medicates with alcohol. "We never say the words," he said while promoting his 2019 film. Later, when Rick meets 8-year-old actress Trudi Fraser, their sweet, vulnerable interactions in the movie are undermined by such musings as, "F**k this f**king little c**t."Ĭhalk it up to Rick being "undiagnosed bipolar." Tarantino the filmmaker was content to hint at this, showing without telling. Instead of cutting to Rick's Nazi barbeque in The 14 Fists of McCluskey and other career highlights, we just sit in the office with him as his agent, Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino's character), does most of the talking. Instead of Hollywood's oldest restaurant, Musso & Frank Grill, the first long chapter unfolds in an office at the William Morris Agency.Ībsent Leonardo DiCaprio's presence, the struggling actor Rick doesn't make much of a first impression. Overall, it hits enough of the same beats, though certain locations are different. The novel skips over the poolside scene with Damian Lewis in his McQueen sideburns. In Roman's mind, the mansion visit is something that took place "last night," not offscreen but definitely off-page.
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