Leonardo DiCaprio was in Vegas yesterday with Quentin Tarantino at CinemaCon. When’s the last time you’ve seen him so put together? A while, right? Leo hasn’t worked in a while. Leo hasn’t been on a film set since summer 2015 and reshoots on The Revenant. But he’s about to start working again this summer in Quentin’s Once Upon A Time In LA which might explain why he’s leaned out and presentable. But there may be more to the story. 

Once Upon A Time In LA will star Leo and Brad Pitt in a story supposedly about an actor living next door to Sharon Tate at the time of the Manson murders. The last time I posted about the project was a month ago when Vulture noted that even though Margot Robbie was reported to be in negotiations to star as Sharon Tate, she’d yet to be confirmed. And so far, there is still no confirmation that she’s committed. Margot was not in Vegas with Leo and QT yesterday. Nor was she mentioned at all in Deadline’s very flattering coverage of Quentin and Leo’s appearance as part of the Sony presentation. 

The Manson murders weren’t mentioned at all either. So…has the story changed? Has it changed because so many people, including Sharon Tate’s sister, objected to the project and, in particular, to a director like QT, with that signature QT violent aesthetic, telling the story? To say nothing of Quentin’s personal controversies in association with Harvey Weinstein. 

None of that bothers Sony, obviously, since they made Once Upon A Time In LA part of their showcase… even though they haven’t actually started shooting. Please process that. Once Upon A Time In LA isn’t due until August 2019, over a year from now. They’re not even rolling on it yet. And already they’re in front of the theatre owners, WITH NOTHING TO SHOW THEM. I mean, it’s not the first time it’s happened but with this film specifically, given that there’s already been some stink around it, having Leo and QT there was purely for razzle dazzle and reassurance. Imagine those theatre owners, predominantly men, of course, right? And they’re seeing Leo and fast-talking Quentin up on stage and they’re popping boners from imagining all the testosterone and the bullets that will go flying on screen and now the studio can be all like, look, the theatre owners are excited about this movie, don’t worry everybody! We are totally OK to move ahead with the movie!

Right. But is Margot still in?