CULTURE

The New Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Trailer Has Even More Brad and Leo—And Charles Manson

The ninth film from Quentin Tarantino

May 21, 2019

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are back with a vengeance. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood set to make its hugely anticipated world premiere at Cannes on Tuesday, Sony Pictures has released the second trailer for this ninth film from Quentin Tarantino.

Set during the summer of 1969 in Los Angeles, the film stars DiCaprio as an aging TV star named Rick Dalton, and Pitt as his stunt double and sidekick, Cliff Booth. The highly secretive film is reportedly set against the backdrop of the horrific Charles Manson murders, a premise that crystalizes in the new trailer, in which we learn that Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate is actually Dalton’s next-door neighbor. (For those of you unfamiliar with the infamous Manson murders, Tate was an up-and-coming Hollywood ingenue who was brutally murdered by Manson and his disciples.)

While the trailer doesn’t reveal too much in terms of plot, we do get glimpses of a Nazi-killing scene that recalls the fiery climax of Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. Damon Harriman’s interpretation of Manson gets some heavy screen time too. Apart from the trio of movie stars leading the way, the film also features one of the most star-stacked casts in recent memory. Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Damian Lewis, Luke Perry (in his last onscreen performance ever), Emile Hirsch, Lena Dunham, Dakota Fanning, Margaret Qualley, Maya Hawke, Clifton Collins, James Marsden, Scoot McNairy, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Kate Berlant, and Al Pacino also appear.

While many fans are probably hoping that some light will be shed on the film after its Tuesday premiere, Tarantino is urging those who are lucky enough to be in attendance to maintain the cloak of secrecy that he’s worked so tirelessly to protect. In an open letter to Cannes, Tarantino asked audiences to refrain from the spoiling the film. “I love cinema. You love cinema. It’s the journey of discovering a story for the first time,” he wrote. “I’m thrilled to be here in Cannes to share Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood with the festival audience. The cast and crew have worked so hard to create something original, and I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way.”

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hits theaters on July 26. Watch the trailer below.