History Trivia / OnceUponATimeInHollywood

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio undertook a strict workout routine in order to convincingly play an action star, giving up pastas and desserts and doing hundreds of push ups per day.

** Completely averted with Creator/BruceLee's daughter Shannon, who took great issue with his being portrayed as simply an ArrogantKungFuGuy with none of his deep philosophical thoughts on display, pointing out that Tarantino is far more respectful in treatment to other historical celebrities as compared to Lee.

* ProductionPosse: As usual, Tarantino brought some veterans of his filmography in -- Creator/BradPitt from ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio from ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Creator/BruceDern from ''Django Unchained'' and ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', Creator/KurtRussell from ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''The Hateful 8'', Zoe Bell from ''Death Proof'' and ''Django Unchained'', and Creator/MichaelMadsen from ''Reservoir Dogs'', ''Kill Bill'' and ''The Hateful 8''. He also gave a small role to Maya Hawke, daughter of posse member Uma Thurman. Two posse members, Tim Roth and James Remar, had their scenes cut but still show up in the credits.

** At least one reviewer ([[https://film.avclub.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-is-quentin-tarantino-s-1836636382 Katie Rife]] at Website/AVClub) speculates the film has one for Tarantino. Rife claims that like his protagonist Rick Dalton, Tarantino is "an established middle-aged white guy confronting his own impending irrelevance."

** Completely averted with Creator/BruceLee's daughter Shannon, who took great issue with his being portrayed as simply an ArrogantKungFuGuy with none of his deep philosophical thoughts on display.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Rick Dalton's character was modeled after Creator/SteveMcQueenActor's early career, being a successful star of [[Series/WantedDeadOrAlive a TV show]] about a BountyHunter who abandoned his leading role for a chance in the movies. Their paths diverged with [=McQueen=] getting his breakout role in ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' while Dalton's movie career stalled. Dalton also has some similarities to Creator/ClintEastwood, as noted on [[WMG/OnceUponATimeInHollywood the WMG page]].

** The original script had Cliff outright winning against Bruce Lee with a cheap shot, but Brad Pitt himself objected to it, knowing full well how bad it could look even with Cliff being an UnreliableNarrator.

* HeyItsThatGuy: After the events of this film, Linda Kasabian could have run off to [[Series/StrangerThings Hawkins, Indiana]] and assumed the identity of a teenager.

* ProductionPosse: As usual, Tarantino brought some veterans of his filmography in -- Creator/BradPitt from ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio from ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Creator/BruceDern from ''Django Unchained'' and ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', Creator/KurtRussell from ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''The Hateful 8'', and Zoe Bell from ''Death Proof'' and ''Django Unchained''. He also gave a small role to Maya Hawke, daughter of posse member Uma Thurman.

* ProductionPosse: As usual, Tarantino brought some veterans of his filmography in -- Creator/BradPitt from ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio from ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', Creator/BruceDern from ''Django Unchained'' and ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', Creator/KurtRussell from ''Film/DeathProof'' and ''The Hateful 8'', and Zoe Bell from ''Death Proof'' and ''Django Unchained''.

** InUniverse, Rick [[ProneToTears breaks down crying]] when describing a Western novel he's reading to Trudi. He suddenly realizes that the fate of the protagonist -- a bronco buster who suffers a career-ending injury -- parallels his own professional decline; as Rick phrases it, he has to come to terms with "getting a little more useless every day."

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Rick Dalton's character was modeled after Creator/SteveMcQueenActor's early career, being a successful star of[[Series/WantedDeadOrAlive a TV show]] about a BountyHunter who abandoned his leading role for a chance in the movies. Their paths diverged with [=McQueen=] getting his breakout role in ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' while Dalton's movie career stalled. Dalton also has some similarities to Creator/ClintEastwood, as noted on [[WMG/OnceUponATimeInHollywood the WMG page]].

** Creator/JamesMarsden was going to play Burt Reynolds, who in 1969 was a frequent guest star on TV westerns, as an in-joke with the real Reynolds also being in the film. It’s unclear whether he was cut because of Reynolds’ death.
** Creator/DannyStrong was going to play Creator/DeanMartin, in what seems very much like it would be deliberately played for absurd laughs. The real Martin is seen in clips from ''The Wrecking Crew''.
* DuelingMovies: This movie is actually the ''third'' in 2019 to take inspiration from the Manson Family murders. A few months previously came ''The Haunting of Sharon Tate'', a horror movie starring Creator/HilaryDuff that was panned upon release and quickly forgotten; and ''Charlie Says'', a drama starring Creator/MattSmith as Manson that received mixed reviews. There's also Season 2 of ''Series/{{Mindhunter}}'' which was released a few weeks later, in which the ''same actor'' plays Manson.

* ArtistExistenceFailure: Creator/BurtReynolds was initially cast as George Spahn, but succumbed to a heart attack before shooting began. Creator/BruceDern replaced him in the role.

** Unfortunately not the case with Creator/BruceLee's daughter Shannon, who took great issue with his being portrayed as simply an ArrogantKungFuGuy with none of his deep philosophical thoughts on display.

** Regular Tarantino contributors Creator/TimRoth and Creator/MichaelMadsen, plus Creator/JamesRemar who appeared in ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', all filmed scenes for the movie, but most of their footage was cut for time -- Madsen is onscreen for about twenty seconds, and Roth and Remar are edited out entirely.

** InUniverse, Rick [[ProneToTears breaks down crying]] when describing a Western novel he's reading to Trudi. He suddenly realizes that the fate of the protagonist--a bronco buster who suffers an injury that ends his career--parallels his own professional decline.

* RealitySubtext: At least one reviewer ([[https://film.avclub.com/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-is-quentin-tarantino-s-1836636382 Katie Rife]] at Website/AVClub) speculates the film has one for Tarantino. Rife claims that like his protagonist Rick Dalton, Tarantino is "an established middle-aged white guy confronting his own impending irrelevance."

** Unfortunately not the case with Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon, who took great issue with his being portrayed as simply an ArrogantKungFuGuy with none of his deep philosophical thoughts on display.

** 50 year olds Creator/LukePerry and Creator/TimothyOlyphant as 32-year-old Wayne Maunder and James Stacy, even older than Andrew Duggan was when he played Stacy and Maunder's dad in Series/Lancer.
** Creator/DanielleHarris age 42 plays a member of the Manson Family. Her character's age is never specified, but she is clearly no more than her mid-twenties. Harris is still convincing.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Rick Dalton's character was modeled after Steven [=McQueen=]'s early career, being a successful star of a TV show about a bounty hunter who abandoned his leading role for a chance in the movies. Their paths diverged with [=McQueen=] getting his breakout role in ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' while Dalton's movie career stalled.

* ReleaseDateChange: The film was initially set for release on August 9, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate, before being moved by Sony out of respect for the victims and Sharon Tate's family.

* ApprovalOfGod: Debra Tate was initially very apprehensive about the project as she feared the murder of her sister Sharon would be salaciously exploited (she's been defending her sister's memory against exploitation for decades), but after talking with Creator/QuentinTarantino and reading the script, she gave it her blessing.
** Debra also admitted that she wept when she saw Creator/MargotRobbie perform as Sharon, saying that Robbie nailed the role: "[[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments I actually got to see my sister again nearly 50 years later]]."

* DuelingMovies: This movie is actually the ''third'' in 2019 to take inspiration from the Manson Family murders. A few months previously came ''The Haunting of Sharon Tate'', a horror movie starring Creator/HilaryDuff that was panned upon release and quickly forgotten; and ''Charlie Says'', a drama starring Creator/MattSmith as Manson that received mixed reviews.

* DawsonCasting: Producer Marvin Schwartz was 41 in 1969. He's played by Creator/AlPacino, who was 78 during the filming.

*** Creator/DanielleHarris age 42 plays a member of the Manson Family. Her character's age is never specified. But she is clearly no more than her mid-twenties. Harris manages to convince.

* MeaningfulReleaseDate: The film comes out fifty years after the murders that were committed by the "family" of UsefulNotes/CharlesManson and took the life of Creator/SharonTate. It was actually set to come out on the anniversary day (August 9) but was pushed back one week by Sony out of respect after Debra Tate (Sharon's sister) called the initial release date "tacky and exploitative".