ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Quentin, were you always intending for this to be basically a valentine to Los Angeles?
QUENTIN TARANTINO:Yes, it was.
I grew up in Los Angeles, I love it.
BRAD PITT:Not true, not true!
That does not have to be true!
TARANTINO:No, you’re free to love it in your own way!
But not the way we do.
Not the way me and Leo do.
But the thing is especially when it came to 1969 I was between 6 and 7 years old.
And so the film became a big memory piece.
Being in the car with my mom.
And driving around and listening to the radio playing all the time.
You didn’t move around looking for songs.
That’s what I remember.
In fact, my stepfather drove a Karmann Ghia like Cliff’s character drives.
In the same way thatJackie BrownI think has me trying to capture the South Bay of the ’80s.
That’s what I was trying to do with this.
A lot of the characters in the film are fictional or perhaps inspired by real people.
But the film also features some real characters.
And Margot, you play Sharon Tate, who is very much a real person.
What is your Sharon like?
And I wanted to therefore inject her with as much life as possible.
Also, I think at that time it was an incredibly exciting time in her life.
Therefore I wanted her to feel hopeful, I wanted her to feel excited.
And there’s that wonderful scene where she essentially goes to see a film that she’s in.
Have any of you done that in real life?
TARANTINO:I did that once, at the Bruin, no less.
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO:Wonder where you got it from then.
Not because I was stressing the money, just actually, “I’m in the movie!”
DiCAPRIO:That’s funny.
TARANTINO:And so I bring [it] up to the manager and my girlfriend starts negotiating.
And he’s like, “Well, how do I know he wrote the film?”
“He can show you his driver’s license, his name is right there.”
and she goes, “Those are his FANS!”
ROBBIE:Did you end up getting to go in?
And Leo, tell us about your character inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.
That’s what he knows.
He’s stuck in this rut.
How did you prepare to play an actor full of self-doubt?
Was that a reach?
DiCAPRIO:I think that it’s implicitly in all of us.
There’s not an actor out there that would not identify.
It’s just a matter of letting the 12-headed Hydra come out.
I wasn’t picking on you particularly!
Not the cartoon character, but the assistant, the guy that fixes things.
PITT:The gopher!
Well yes, I didn’t want to say it.
Tell us a little bit about your character.
He’s kindly hired me to work odd jobs so I am doing whatever he needs.
You have the best pet-feeding sequence sinceThe Long Goodbyewhen he’s getting the cat food.
What was that like?
PITT:I cannot take any credit for that.
Margot, how did you get cast in the film?
You wrote Quentin a letter?
ROBBIE:I definitely didn’t expect it to work out so well.
I just wanted to let him know how much I loved his movies and how it shaped my childhood.
And I said, “Yeah, I do, yeah.”
PITT:I wasn’t even allowed in the kitchen, I got sent to the back porch!
ROBBIE:Oh really?
I got food and everything.
Leo, what did you get?
She got food, he got tea.
DiCAPRIO:I was out on the porch.
There’s a Margot imprint on the couch when she leaves.
I went back a couple times.
You get there the first time and it’s dog-eared here, a little stained there.
And sadly, we lost him since the film was completed.
Can you talk a little bit about working with him?
DiCAPRIO:I was immediately struck by his kindness.
And I felt this overwhelming feeling of being star-struck.
When I heard that news it was really heartbreaking.
PITT:Incredibly generous man.
What was that like?
PITT:It was pretty good fun.
TARANTINO:No, he didn’t contact me.
He contacted [casting director Victoria Thomas].
PITT:He contacted casting.
Getting the part, he moves away and gets the part.
And comes back and does this, he’s really brilliant.
TARANTINO:He tells a great story.
He’s an actor, he’s done the showInhumansbut basically runs a dojo out of Wisconsin.
He’s just like, “Keep it cool, just keep it cool.
Don’t let everybody know that you are freaking out to sit at this table.”
That’s a Hollywood story.
I went to the Playboy Mansion I guess a few years before Hef passed away… Then I realized that it was actually at the mansion.
PITT (pointing at Tarantino):He’s a purist!
You’re sitting next to a purist, my friend.
Obviously, the Hef days are over, but what was it like shooting there?
ROBBIE:So cool!
TARANTINO:It was so much fun.
I’ve been to the Playboy Mansion many times in Hef’s day.
Well not many times, but enough.
TARANTINO:I knew where the grotto was.
PITT:And the Purell.
He knew where the Purell was.
… And didn’t he have a theater room?
TARANTINO: Oh yeah!
His theater room was…you know when she comes walking in dancing by the two stairs?
His theater room was just back there.
I think they all sat on couches and had a screening on a wall.
It was just fun, iconic, it suggested a Hollywood of a different time.
He kind of covered the whole thing.
That was what was neat about them."
And they’ve all gotten older but it’s all groovy.
What was that like?
DiCAPRIO:Well, thank God I wasn’t hired for my voice for this movie.
We had a couple different songs that we tried.
We ended up using “Green Door,” but, you know, it was great.
It was a lot of fun.
[To Pitt and DiCaprio] You do in the movie seem to have a very easygoing relationship.
Did you know each other particularly well beforehand?
Did you just fall into it?
PITT:Certainly over the decades we’ve crossed paths.
There’s a real shorthand with us, we all popped kind of at the same time.
Probably all stayed in the same suites.
That always freaks me out, by the way.
It’s a little weird when you think about it.
I mean the same room.
The same beds, the same toilets.
Probably the same robes.
It’s a little weird…I’m gonna get off of it.
Just a real shorthand and respect and good laughs on set.
It may be a professional relationship but it becomes like family.
