Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will have its world premiere (in competition) at the Cannes Film Festival, the fest announced Thursday.
Intermezzo from Abdellatif Kechiche, the Palme d’Or-winning director of Blue Is the Warmest Color, has also been added to the competition slate.
The star-studded movie has been widely anticipated as a festival highlight but wasn’t included in Cannes’ official selection announcement on April 18.
Artistic director Thierry Fremaux told journalists several times that day that he hoped for post-production on Tarantino’s film to be completed in time for the film to be shown at the festival.
Fremaux said Tarantino was eager to be back at Cannes and was working hard to finish the film by May, which was a challenge because it was shot in 35mm, which takes longer to edit than digital film, and is slated for a July release.
“We were afraid the film would not be ready, as it wouldn’t be released until late July, but Tarantino, who has not left the editing room in four months, is a real, loyal and punctual child of Cannes!” Fremaux said Thursday. “Like ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ he’ll definitely be there – 25 years after the Palme d’Or for ‘Pulp Fiction’ – with a finished film screened in 35mm and his cast in tow.” Fremaux described the film as a “love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, a rock music tour of 1969, and an ode to cinema as a whole.”
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is expected to play May 21 to mark the 25th anniversary of “Pulp Fiction’s” world premiere there.
Set in Hollywood in the late 1960s, he film stars DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as, respectively, Rick Dalton, a washed-up actor, and Cliff Booth, his longtime stunt double. Dalton lives next door to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), the pregnant actress who was murdered by Charles Manson’s followers in 1969.
Emile Hirsch, Timothy Olyphant, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning and the late Luke Perry complete the cast.
