Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, is packed with small details and references to real-life events. But you don’t need to be a Los Angeles native or a true crime buff to get all the nods. We’ll point out all the small details in Once Upon a Time that you missed. Obviously, if you haven’t seen the film yet, here’s your spoiler warning.
If you caught a hint of deja vu during the scenes in which Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth are filming Bounty Law and being interviewed about it, that wasn’t a coincidence. In the tradition of classic western films and television shows reusing the same set to save money, the set where Bounty Law takes place mirrors a town we saw in Django Unchained. Specifically, it’s the place where bounty hunter Dr. Schultz first meets Django while in pursuit of his own bounty. The only question remaining is whether a character inspired by Dr. Schulz ever appeared in an episode of Bounty Law in the Tarantino-verse.
Timothy Olyphant might be tired of acting as the fastest gunslinger in the west, but one of this movie’s small details makes it clear that Tarantino isn’t sick of seeing him do it. In 2004, Olyphant starred in Deadwood as Seth Bullock, a man whose quickdraw is one of the fastest around. After that, he appeared in 2011’s Justified, a modern-day adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Fire in the Hole, which saw him playing the part of a dedicated lawman with a ludicrously fast draw. In Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood’s depiction of the real life TV western called Lancer, Olyphant plays actor James Stacy, who on that show played Johnny Madrid Lancer: a man who’s extremely quick with a gun. It’s a nice wink to some of Olyphant’s past roles, but it’s also just perfect casting. There’s a reason audiences have been willing to accept Olyphant as a cowboy, whether in modern-day or period pieces, for nearly 20 years it just works.
#OnceUponATimeInHollywood
A Django Unchained crossover | 0:21
Timothy Olyphant always shoots first | 0:54
Zoë Bell’s cameo | 1:56
An Inglourious B******* shout-out | 2:50
Red Apple | 3:47