Tarantino's Manson Family murders movie plan branded 'disgusting'

Tarantino… said to be planning movie on Charles Manson – Credit: Getty
Tarantino… said to be planning movie on Charles Manson – Credit: Getty

Quentin Tarantino’s next project could be his most controversial yet – he’s said to be prepping a movie about the ‘Manson Family’ murders.

What’s more, he’s hoping to cast Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence in the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter, while Deadline says he’s eyeing Margot Robbie for the role of Sharon Tate.

The horrifying murder of Tate, the actress wife of Roman Polanski, who was eight months pregnant, and three of her friends at their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, happened in 1969, the incident now a grisly chapter in Hollywood folklore.

(Credit: AP)
(Credit: AP)

As well as the potential Robbie casting, Deadline reports that long-time Tarantino collaborator Samuel L. Jackson is also in line for a role.

Adds Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr: “Clearly word of this has gotten out before Tarantino was ready, but every project by the writer-director is major news. No one is confirming anything at this point, and I don’t think any roles have been promised yet.”

Indeed, no official confirmation has come from Tarantino, but there’s already some shockwaves building about the director taking on such a brutal real-life crime.

Josh Dickey on Mashable has called it a ‘disgusting idea’.

“This is not some faded, deliciously juicy Hollywood tale for the soapy-podcast crowd to script up and dish about. Due in no small part to its sickeningly morbid nature, this is still pretty fresh in people’s minds. These are the Manson murders,” he writes.

“Tarantino made his bones fetishizing gangstery murder, torture, extortion — surrounding suffering with cheeky dialogue, burning with revenge, taking old genres and bending them into his own. He made killing seem stylish and cool.

“And no matter how far Tarantino tries to distance his script from that morbid reality, the reality will be right over there, looking at us forlornly. Five people, tied up, tortured, punched open with dozens of knife-holes, blood spattering everywhere.

“What could possibly be fun about that, whether onscreen, implied or otherwise?”

Many agree…

Others are somewhat less concerned:

But this seemed to encapsulate the feeling…

Manson was a unemployed former convict prior to becoming the leader of the cultish commune ‘the Manson Family’, and was convinced that an apocalyptic race war was impending.

Now 82, he is currently serving a life sentence in prison in California.

He was depicted on screen in 2015, in the period crime series ‘Aquarius’ on NBC, with Gethin Anthony playing Manson. It was cancelled after two seasons.


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