We Have A Crazy 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Theory

Our first glimpse of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was a poster, which was promptly mocked on Twitter. Probably because it looked like an awkwardly photoshopped GQ spread from 1997.

Next came the trailer, which started to shade in some of the plot details. The movie follows actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as they ... wear cool jackets and lean against stuff. OK, we don't know a whole lot. But we do know that both Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Charles Manson (Dewey from Justified) show up. And since the movie is partially set in 1969, we know Tate will be murdered in her home by the Manson Family. Or will she?

As theorized over at Slashfilm, it's entirely possible that Tarantino will alter the course of history and have Tate survive. Why? Well, we know Tarantino has a penchant for punishing real-life villains at the expense of historical accuracy, as he violently offed Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis at the climax of Inglourious Basterds. Could he be planning a similar end for Manson and his family?

Notably, Tate's sister Debra was vehemently opposed to the movie until she read the script. She then claimed that the movie "is not what people would expect it to be when you combine the Tarantino and Manson names." Which could perhaps indicate that Tarantino's Tate won't meet a violent end.

We'll go one step further down the escalator of rampant speculation: What if Tarantino has Bruce Lee kill Manson? Lee (played by Mike Moh) shows up briefly in the trailer, pointedly bragging that his hands are "registered as lethal weapons." And in what could potentially serve as foreshadowing, Pitt goes on to explain the rules of manslaughter. Then, as further evidence that this movie is a full-blown fantasy, they spar and Pitt somehow isn't unconscious within four seconds.

This wacky twist isn't totally lacking precedent, either. At the time of her death, Tate had in fact befriended Lee. Tate's husband Roman Polanski even briefly suspected that Lee was one of the murderers. While that was obviously way off-base, the point is that Lee was part of Tate's social circle in 1969. So if Tarantino decided to kill Manson, what better way than to have one of his childhood heroes, a cinematic icon, go full Enter The Dragon on one of the '60s most vile characters? It sounds nuts, but had Tarantino contrived a way to have, say, William Shatner travel back in time to assassinate Hitler, you know he totally would have.

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