Los Angeles, Jul 12 (EFE).- Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, the trio of A-list stars with top billing in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” paid tribute here Friday to the acclaimed American director’s purist passion for cinema.
They also hailed the infectious energy that he transmits to everyone working on his film sets.
“There’s always something exciting and a palpable electricity that kind of happens on his sets,” DiCaprio said at a press conference in Los Angeles ahead of the movie’s July 26 theatrical release in the United States.
“There’s a specificity to his dialogues, and you kind of take that as the Bible, But there’s also this energy that everyone has that we’re creating something unique and special every day.”
DiCaprio, who previously starred in Tarantino’s 2012 film “Django Unchained,” said the genre of the director’s latest film, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, also was appealing to him.
“I’m a huge fan of films about Hollywood, and Tarantino’s take on that was very unique. I just love the outsiders’ perspective.”
Tarantino also accompanied his stars at the press event, a relaxed, joke-filled gathering in which he spoke about his motivations for making a film that offers his fresh perspective on Hollywood of the late 1960s.
“For a long time I’ve wanted to do a movie about making movies, kind of an interesting sub-genre with films like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘Hooper,'” the director said.
The comedy-drama film is centered around Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), a former star of a TV Western series who is trying to revive his faltering career, and Cliff Booth (Pitt), Dalton’s stunt double and best friend.
Dalton lives next to the mansion being rented by film director Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate (Robbie),
Robbie’s role as Tate, one of several people murdered in the late 1960s by the Manson Family at the home she shared with Polanski, marks the first time she has worked with Tarantino.
“It was beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined. I wanted to see him work,” said the 29-year-old Australian actress, who added that she tried to soak in everything she could about the filmmaking process and even attended film shoots after her scenes had finished.
Robbie also joked that she pictured herself wielding guns and “kicking ass” in a Tarantino movie, adding that in that sense her role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was very unexpected.
Pitt, who starred in Tarantino’s 2009 film “Inglourious Basterds,” noted that even for top Hollywood stars the chance to take part in a Tarantino film is one not to be missed.
“When he calls, we’re all going to show up,” he said at the press conference, adding that actors relish the experience because of the rich dialogue and the “joy in the process.”