The highly anticipated trailer for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino's dive into 1960s Hollywood dropped just in time for its world premiere at Cannes 2019 yesterday. The sneak peek featured plenty of familiar faces including Leonardo DiCaprio as down-on-his-luck actor Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt as stuntman Cliff Booth, Al Pacino as Hollywood producer Marvin Schwarzs, Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, and Damon Herriman as Charles Manson. But if you look closely, you'll also see a snippet featuring Lena Dunham, who couldn't be more different from her Girls character, Hannah Horvath. For starters, it doesn't seem that Dunham's Once Upon a Time character gets any financial support from her parents, and she's definitely not living in a fancy NYC apartment.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Instead, Dunham has unruly, frizzy hair and dons a loose frock. She's not a leader by any means, and it seems she likes it that way. But don't let her sweet smile or carefree attitude fool you; Dunham's character, Gypsy, is part of Charles Manson's notorious family cult, which was responsible for murdering nine people, including a very pregnant Sharon Tate, in the summer of 1969.
While we're not sure how closely Tarantino follows the real Manson storyline, we do know that Gypsy, aka Catherine Share, was a real person. According to Oxygen, Gypsy never killed anyone on Manson's behalf; though, in an interview with Australia's 60 Minutes, she admitted that she understands why others did.
"He just made you feel good about yourself," she said. "He gave women what they needed in a lot of different ways. So they wanted to be with him."
Gypsy added that Manson's followers felt compelled to do anything for him because they were terrified of what they believed to be an imminent race war. They also viewed him as a Christ-like figure who could do no wrong.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will focus a bit on the events leading up to the murders, including the time Manson's Family spent at Spahn Ranch, the 55-acre plot of land that sometimes served as a filming location for Westerns. While there, Manson's girls meet Booth, and, suddenly, Hollywood elites have ties to one of the most notorious cult leaders in American history. Ultimately, though, the film seems to be more about the changing tides in Hollywood than it is about Manson.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
With so many actors — including Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, and Margaret Qualley — and Tarantino's signature dark humour, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is bound to keep people talking long after it hits cinemas this summer.
Watch the star-studded trailer below: