Last week, Quentin Tarantino found himself trending for all the wrong reasons. The filmmaker hit the press to share his side of the story about the “Kill Bill” car accident involving Uma Thurman, which nearly left the actress severely injured. Tarantino called what went down “one of the biggest regrets of my career, it is one of the biggest regrets of my life.” The director again had to go on the defensive after an interview in 2003 on “The Howard Stern Show” resurfaced, and saw Tarantino asserting that Samantha Geimer, who was raped by Roman Polanski when she was 13 years-old, “wanted to have it….she was down with this.” The director issued an apology, but it seems there could be major fallout to come.
Showbiz 411 is reporting is now having “second thoughts” about producing Tarantino’s brewing not-actually-a-Charles-Manson-movie project. The studio is apparently concerned about the press that swirled around the director last week, and there’s probably a couple of good reasons they might be reconsidering the high profile project.
Firstly, it’s going to be very expensive. The budget is said to be in the neighborhood of $100 million, and after marketing, it will need to earn $375 million worldwide to break even. For context, the director has only crossed that number once — with 2012’s “Django Unchained,” which earned $425 million worldwide. The next closest is “Inglourious Basterds,” which tallied $321 million worldwide. Tarantino’s last movie, “The Hateful Eight,” was considered a disappointment financially, earning $155 million globally, on a budget of $44 million (not including marketing).
Secondly, the movie is already generating controversy thanks to the recent news that Polanski will appear as a character in the 1969 set movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in the movie which is set in Los Angeles, and centers on a washed up TV actor who’s had one hit series and is looking for a way to get into the film business through the burgeoning spaghetti western industry in Italy. His sidekick — who’s also his stunt double (which Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are apparently in contention for) — is looking for the same thing. Meanwhile, the horrific murder of Sharon Tate and four of her friends by Charles Manson’s cult of followers shadows the main narrative. DiCaprio is playing that washed up actor, with Margot Robbie expected to sign up as Sharon Tate, with Al Pacino also eyed for role. (Showbiz 411 speculates that Cruise is up for the Polanski role, which makes little sense considering the director was 36 at the time of Tate’s death — Cruise is 55 — and goes against previous reports that Tarantino is looking for a Polish actor for the part).
It’s a big, expensive auteur project but if anything else surfaces between now and August 9, 2019 — when the film is slated to be released — that generates further negative chatter around Tarantino, I’m sure Sony doesn’t want to have a big, unreleasable movie on their hands.
Of course, none of this is official, and I’d imagine that Sony is simply watching at the moment to see how things will shake out. There’s also been no word from Paramount, who are in the midst of developing an R-rated “Star Trek” movie based off a concept by Tarantino, who may also sign up to direct.