![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c0ef469cdc8dee0b75b4fdd441258abe.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThe new coffee-table book The Making of Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood, by Jay Glennie, takes readers behind the scenes of the director\u2019s celebrated reimagining of the Manson Family murders. A romp through 1969 Hollywood, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, a Western TV-series actor whose time in the spotlight is fading fast, and Brad Pitt as his charming deadbeat stunt double, Cliff Booth (a role that won Pitt a Best Supporting Actor Oscar).<\/p>\n
In one of the film\u2019s indelible scenes, DiCaprio\u2019s Dalton, doing a guest spot on the series Lancer (which in real life ran from 1968 to 1970), suffers a crisis of confidence on set, flubbing his lines after a night of drinking, and retreating to his trailer for a sputtering, self-flagellating tantrum. In this exclusive excerpt, Tarantino, DiCaprio, and Pitt recount how DiCaprio pushed for the scene \u2014 not a part of the original script \u2014 and what Tarantino told his star to make it come together in memorable fashion.<\/p>\n
More from Rolling Stone<\/p>\n
\u201cI went into those Lancer scenes thinking, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve directed two Westerns. Wow, I get to make a third Western inside of this movie!\u2019\u201d says Tarantino.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I was writing them,\u201d he adds, \u201cI thought, \u2018I can do what Richard Rush did when he was doing The Stunt Man, where he gets to make a kinda art movie, which is like Fifties television or Sixties television would be. But the Lancer scenes don\u2019t look like Sixties television. They look like a really terrific Seventies western. It is because I am not treating it like Sixties television \u2014 it\u2019s my Western.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I am not shooting it like Sam Wanamaker,\u201d he says. \u201cI am shooting it like Quentin Tarantino, and I am asking for the type of performances that Quentin Tarantino would want, not the type of performances you would expect to see in a 1969 pilot for a TV show. Consequently, I am giving Leo two characters to play. I am giving him Rick Dalton, and I am giving him Caleb DeCoteau [DiCaprio\u2019s character on Lancer].\u201d<\/p>\n
Then DiCaprio had an idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI approached Quentin about looking at the worst fear an actor can have,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Tarantino confirms DiCaprio\u2019s account. \u201cYeah \u2014 yeah, he did. My recollection was of Leo approaching me saying, \u2018You know, I just wish I had a little more to do in the film \u2014 to do a scene or something.\u2019 So I went away and wrote another Lancer scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Leo wasn\u2019t necessarily looking for more screen time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that didn\u2019t solve Leo\u2019s problem,\u201d Quentin says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t necessarily make him happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Leo wanted to embrace was Rick\u2019s struggle playing Caleb DeCoteau.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to turn it into a full-on acting mess,\u201d the filmmaker adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, to me, I wanted Rick to encounter the worst fear an actor can encounter,\u201d DiCaprio recalls. \u201cAnd the worst fear you have as an actor is that you don\u2019t know your lines, then you just blank and everyone is staring at you. It\u2019s like going to school in your underwear. It\u2019s the ultimate nightmare. We had him boozing it up too hard, and now he cannot get through his big monologue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I didn\u2019t have Rick playing Caleb having a freakout in the middle of the scene because I liked my scene,\u201d Quentin says. \u201cThere was a whole third act to that scene, and I wanted it to be my third Western right smack dab in the middle of Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood, so I wanted the scene to carry on playing out.\u201d<\/p>\n
This didn\u2019t ring true for Leo, who countered Quentin\u2019s argument by explaining, \u201cWe need to have Rick have a meltdown. I think you\u2019re missing something, man. Things need to go bad for me. I need to kinda embarrass myself on the set.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quentin recalls that he knew that everything Leo was saying made \u201cjust perfect fucking sense, but it wasn\u2019t what I wanted. I was almost fucking annoyed that it was making sense because that wasn\u2019t what I wanted. What I really wanted was to have my Lancer [scenes] coexisting with the rest of the film. I was frustrated. I was almost fucking annoyed that it was making sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking at Leo, he conceded defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, OK, I see what you mean, goddamn it,\u201d the director told his star. \u201cFuck \u2014 you\u2019re going to fuck up my Western. You\u2019re going to fuck up my little Western in the middle of my goddamn movie. Fucking goddamn it. But, yeah, yeah, you\u2019re not wrong, you\u2019re not wrong, you son of a bitch. OK, OK, OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seed had been sown. Quentin went away and rewrote the scene.<\/p>\n
DiCaprio wanted Rick to have some conflict \u2014 serious conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuentin, you know the young Meryl Streep [Trudi Fraser, played by Julia Butters] has unlocked something in Rick,\u201d he told the filmmaker. \u201cHe\u2019s been fucking boozing, yeah, but more than that, he\u2019s dealing with his own destiny as an actor \u2014 his own mortality. He\u2019s been unable to get through this monologue \u2014 all the previous night\u2019s work has been for nothing. It\u2019s fucking Rocky going into the ring, but before that, he\u2019s gonna beat himself fucking up. Quentin, I need to fucking crash and burn, and I need to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leo had unwittingly opened a Pandora\u2019s box.<\/p>\n
What Quentin came up with was an emotionally distraught Rick hunkered down in the safety of his on-set trailer, where he begins to berate himself. He took DiCaprio aside and ran through what he was thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, Leo. I\u2019ve been thinking about it, and I think you could be right. Now, I didn\u2019t want to sit here and write a big old monologue for you to do, and now you have to learn the monologue. No, it\u2019s gotta be a rant. So, here is what we are gonna do. I\u2019ll give you a bunch of things to say, but not in a rhythmic way that you have to learn it \u2014 I\u2019ll give you subjects. I\u2019ll give you certain lines that you can say, and I\u2019ll give you subjects that you can dwell on, but it has to come from you, from your improvisation. OK?\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo nodded his assent.<\/p>\n
They then started to pen ideas that Rick would include in his rant.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuentin and I worked hard on the breakdown and it helped, I responded to it,\u201d DiCaprio remembers. \u201cRick\u2019s been lazy, but I wanted him to have the opportunity where he hits a home run, give him that victory, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once they were done, they relocated to the set of Rick\u2019s trailer. Cinematographer Bob Richardson set up his lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuentin is a one-camera man,\u201d Richardson says. \u201cI\u2019m very happy with one camera. I think it brings out the best. Quentin\u2019s line \u2014 and you\u2019ve probably heard it before \u2014 is, \u2018I\u2019m a director, not a selector.\u2019 It\u2019s so true. With one camera, he knows what he wants, and he is beside the camera most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seated close to the action, Quentin could see that \u201cLeo was nervous. He liked the idea, but that doesn\u2019t mean he wasn\u2019t nervous about it. It\u2019s pressure, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cQuentin says I was nervous about it, and I think, you know, I probably was,\u201d DiCaprio confesses, \u201cbecause usually, I like to prepare a lot, but that wasn\u2019t this scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t. This was full-on Travis Bickle unraveling before your eyes. It had to be spontaneous. In the claustrophobic confines of Rick\u2019s trailer, Quentin rallied Leo to \u201cjust go for it \u2014 just fucking go for it!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/680a6a0c73decb48ddcdf27d3460850f.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Hidden behind the cowardly lion\u2019s mane of Caleb, we begin to see the dark neurosis of a seemingly broken man.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the fuck was that? Jesus Christ! Fuck . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo began to riff. Quentin was right by his side and if he felt there was anything else to add to the mix, he would shout out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay that you\u2019re not drinking anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEight fucking whiskey sours! I couldn\u2019t stop at three or four? . . . Every fucking night! . . . That\u2019s fucking it \u2014 that\u2019s fucking it! . . . Stop fucking drinking right now. Make a promise to yourself . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow pick up the fucking hip flask, Leo, and go to drink it,\u201d screamed Quentin.<\/p>\n
Pissed off at his weakness, Rick throws it out of the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about the little girl!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat fucking little girl!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGo for [Lancer lead James] Stacy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat motherfucking prick . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Quentin was capturing lightning in a bottle.<\/p>\n
The performance received high praise from DiCaprio\u2019s wingman, Brad Pitt.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me tell you, what Leo did in that scene was one of the great pieces of acting ever committed to film,\u201d Pitt says. \u201cHe is so smart. I\u2019ve said it before \u2014 it is one of the greatest breakdown scenes I have seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is a sentiment his director echoed.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeo had Rick fuck up, and we made a meal out of it,\u201d Quentin recalls. \u201cWe made a big, big deal out of it, and it was really, really cool. Little by little, he loosened up. Little by little, he grew in confidence and tried different things. I told him that there\u2019ll only be one setup, and I\u2019ll do it with jump cuts. So we\u2019ll do, like, three takes, and then I\u2019ll just jump-cut the best bits. We\u2019ll do it, and that is it. You don\u2019t have to match anything \u2014 nothing. I\u2019ll do it with the best sections from three different takes. But we\u2019ll put a full [film] magazine on, and we\u2019ll run until it runs out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was exciting,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt was exciting for the whole crew. I knew that we had something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/e0817ae0963f5fcbdc201ab6b1a7ae9d.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
DiCaprio humbly recalls \u201cjust improvising for a few hours, and then Quentin spliced it together in a very creative way. Normally, you hold Quentin\u2019s dialogue as modern-day Shakespeare, but here, I had the leniency to be able to go off and try things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, Leo dug in deep, and he is just great,\u201d Quentin adds. \u201cBy this time, he really knew Rick \u2014 he just knew the guy. It is one thing to learn the lines for a scene, but it is another to just know your guy. Leo really had to fucking deliver, OK? And he did. Everybody remembers the scene, and he is just terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quentin concedes that it is \u201cthe best fucking idea that wins. I invested in it, and Leo invested in it, and he pulled it off, and it was really, really wonderful. And he was fucking right, alright?\u201d<\/p>\n
When the director and film editor Fred Raskin hit the editing suite, Quentin\u2019s Lancer scene would stay fucked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, look, Leo is entirely right, but it is not what I wanted,\u201d the filmmaker explains. \u201cI have cut a version of the movie where he doesn\u2019t have the fuck-up, when it just plays out the way it is. And I like that version. It is not better, but I like it. I don\u2019t believe in going after the fact and doing director\u2019s cuts. No, my director\u2019s cuts play in 3,000 theaters. But if I ever released a longer version of the movie, it would be done that way. Now, not because it is better, but because you have already seen that other version \u2014 just watch that if you like. This is another way of doing it \u2014 not better, not the way, just a way, the way I like.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, let me tell you, when I saw this scene, it just blew me away,\u201d Pitt says. \u201cIt was so, so smart of Leo, but it is also a sign of a great director. Now, it must have been hard for Quentin because it is his own words, but he knew it was a great idea when he tried it on, and the two of them worked it through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick Dalton is ready. The self-flagellation is over \u2014 he\u2019ll show them motherfuckers that time hasn\u2019t passed him by. There is still time to have some of what the fucker McQueen is enjoying.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an exorcism for him of his own self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness, and then hyping himself back up,\u201d DiCaprio explains. \u201cThen Quentin did an old-fashioned shot of my feet coming down the studio. Rick\u2019s going to war \u2014 he\u2019s psyched.\u201d<\/p>\n
Provided courtesy of Insight Editions & The Story Factory, from Jay Glennie\u2019s The Making of Once Upon a Time\u2026 in Hollywood, published Oct. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n
Best of Rolling Stone<\/p>\n
Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new coffee-table book The Making of Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,45642,134,32505,18350,150636],"class_list":{"0":"post-254919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-dicaprio","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-leo","14":"tag-quentin-tarantino","15":"tag-rick-dalton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}