Quentin Tarantino isn’t a filmmaker that shies away from referencing real-life events in his films. Perhaps, most famously, the director altered the official history of World War II (or at least, gave his own interpretation of Adolf Hitler’s fate) in “Inglourious Basterds.” And in his latest film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Tarantino did it again, this time looking at the Manson Family murders.
Of course, there’s a bit of a complication with covering this story that wasn’t necessarily there with his WWII film. Even though Sharon Tate was tragically murdered and Manson is no longer around, filmmaker Roman Polanski definitely is, and his personal attachment to the story led many fans to wonder if Tarantino consulted Polanski during the production of the film. However, according to a recent interview with Deadline, that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least not completely.
“I felt that the story of [Sharon Tate’s] death, and the Manson tragedy had moved into legit history,” explained Tarantino. “So it actually is of historical importance beyond just his own personal tragedy. So I felt I was on OK grounds there. I didn’t want to call [Polanski] and talk to him while I was writing it because I’m not going to ask him permission. I’m going to do it, all right? I don’t think he needed any anxiety and I didn’t need any anxiety as far as that was concerned.”
If you’re not familiar with the story, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate were married and expecting a child at the time of the vicious murders. However, at the time of the attack, Polanski wasn’t at the home he shared with Tate, leaving him to deal with the aftermath of the brutal slayings.
He continued, “However, after it was finished, he got wind of it and he reached out through a mutual friend. That friend called me and said, ‘So what’s up with this?’ He said that Roman wasn’t mad. He didn’t call up irate or anything. He was just curious.”
Tarantino said that the fact that Polanski is still in Europe added an extra layer of difficulty to the proceedings. Instead of having the filmmaker come to his house to read the script, he had to improvise.
“I had the friend come over and read the script,” said Tarantino. “He came to my house. He read the script simply so he could call Roman up and tell him the idea and what’s in it. And basically that he didn’t have anything to worry about.”
Tarantino said that once the friend read the script and relayed the contents to the filmmaker, Polanski felt better about what was going on in ‘Once Upon a Time.’ This is directly contrasted by the statements made recently by Polanski’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, who said she is bothered by the concept of the film and is unhappy that the project uses Polanski’s tragic story as a plot point when Hollywood has effectively blacklisted the filmmaker in recent months.
That being said, it does appear that Tarantino gave Polanski a fair opportunity to review the contents of the script. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is arriving in theaters on July 26.