It’s not crazy to say that the Cannes debut of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” could have gone a little bit better. No, not necessarily in regards to reviews, as the period film currently sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, showing that a vast majority of critics enjoyed the film. What I mean is that big news that came out of Cannes about Quentin Tarantino’s latest film has more to do with the filmmaker himself and less about the actual film.
There was the now-infamous post-premiere press conference, where Tarantino was defiant when answering questions about the film’s depiction of violence against women, as well as how Margot Robbie’s role seemed to be significantly less than her male co-stars, despite her being used prominently in marketing. And in less controversial news, Tarantino dropped hints that he may re-edit his film, adding more scenes and extending the run-time to almost two-hours-and-forty-five-minutes.
READ MORE: Best & Worst Of The 2019 Cannes Film Festival
Now, weeks later, the outrage seems to have died down (we’ll see what happens when everyone does press for the film), and it appears that the filmmaker still isn’t sure about that last bit, and not even the head of Sony’s film division, Tom Rothman, knows whether or not ‘Once Upon a Time’ is going to be super-sized.
“You’d have to ask the maestro himself,” Rothman said (via THR).
It would appear that Rothman and Sony, in general, are very pleased with the way the film has turned out and how ‘Once Upon a Time’ was received at Cannes. And despite some outrage over certain moments in the film, Rothman thinks that you have to let Tarantino be Tarantino.
“We can’t let originality die,” he said. “The truth of the matter is the Quentin Tarantinos of this world are few and far between.”
So, we are just over a month away from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” arriving in theaters and we’re still not any closer to knowing if the filmmaker plans on re-editing his film. According to the report, signs point to the fact that there may be additional scenes added, given that the most recent trailer features footage that wasn’t in the Cannes cut. However, given how trailers regularly add scenes, that really doesn’t tell us much either.
All that is certain is that Tarantino’s film will be longer than most, any way you cut it, and will arrive in theaters on July 26. And Sony would love for all you to come out and watch it.
