Quentin Tarantino is returning to the Cannes Film Festival. It has been announced that his next film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, will make its world premiere at the festival and play in competition.
This year’s edition marks 25 years since Tarantino’s iconic Pulp Fiction screened on the Croisette. The director has a long-held affinity for Cannes and was keen that his latest film play at the event. There was some concern that the film wouldn’t play the festival because it was not in the original batch of pictures unveiled last month. General Delegate Thierry Frémaux said this about the film’s late inclusion:
“We were afraid the film would not be ready, as it wouldn’t be released until late July, but Quentin Tarantino, who has not left the editing room in four months, is a real, loyal and punctual child of Cannes. Like for Inglourious Basterds, he’ll definitely be there – 25 years after the Palme d’or for Pulp Fiction – with a finished film screened in 35mm and his cast in tow (Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt). His film is a love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, a rock music tour of 1969, and an ode to cinema as a whole. In addition to thanking Quentin and his crew for spending days and nights in the editing room, the festival wants to give special thanks to the teams at Sony Pictures, who made all of this possible.”
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood tells the story of a faded television actor and his stunt double who strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles. The film will also intersect with the Charles Manson cult. Margot Robbie will play Sharon Tate, Leonardo DiCaprio will play Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt is Cliff Booth, Dakota Fanning will play Squeaky Fromme, Al Pacino is set as Marvin Shwarz and Damian Lewis will play Steve McQueen. Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Margaret Qualley, Tim Roth and the late Luke Perry are also among the cast.
