(Spoiler alert: Don’t read on if you don’t want to hear lots of details about Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”)
Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” takes place around the time of the infamous Manson family murders of Sharon Tate and her friends under the dark influence of Charles Manson. The movie deviates — a lot — from what really happened on the night of Aug. 8, 1969, including in the moment when a young Manson follower bails out on her friends before the home invasion.
Did it really happen? Not exactly. But there’s a grain of truth. And seriously, stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers.
In the film, “Tex” Watson and three female members of the Manson Family drive up to the residence of Tate and Roman Polanski at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. (The woman aren’t named, but they seem to be Susan Atkins, also known as Sadie, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian.)
They park the car at the bottom of the street and climb the steep road by foot, until one of the female members, played by Maya Hawke (daughter of “Kill Bill” star Uma Thurman), says she forgot her knife in the car and has to get it. She walks back to the car and drives off, leaving the three to carry out the crime by themselves.
In reality, no one bailed last minute, but there was one accomplice who didn’t take part in the actual murders. In “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders,” author Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson, wrote that Kasabian never actually entered the Tate-Polanski residence. Kasabian, according to the book, agreed to testify at length about the Tate-LaBianca murders in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
During Atkins’ testimony, she told the questioning attorney that Kasabian had stayed outside during the murders. And Bugliosi writes that Kasabian herself “admitted to being present at the Tate residence, but claimed she had not participated in the murders.”
Bugliosi also wrote:
Tex then told [Kasabian] to go back and wait by the car in the driveway. Linda did as she was told… Wanting ‘to stop what was happening,’ Linda said, ‘I started running toward the house.’ As she reached the walk, ‘there was a man, a tall man, just coming out of the door, staggering, and he had blood all over his face and he was standing by a post, and we looked into each other’s eyes for a minute, I don’t know however long and I said, ‘oh God, I’m so sorry.’ And then he just fell into the bushes. And then Sadie came running out of the house and I said, ‘Sadie, please make it stop! People are coming’ which wasn’t true, but I wanted to make it stop. And she said, ‘It’s too late.’
Linda turned and ran down the driveway. For what seemed like maybe five minutes, she hid in the bushes near the gate, then climbed the fence again and ran down Cielo to where they had parked the Ford…. She got in the car and had started the engine when ‘all of a sudden they were there.’
Later during the trial, Kasabian testified about “the cutting of the telephone wires; driving back down the hill and parking, then walking back up,” Bugliosi wrote.
At one point, and attorney asked Kasabian: “The fact that you were pregnant, wasn’t that the reason you stayed outside instead of going inside to participate?” She responded, “Whether I was pregnant or not, I would never have killed anybody.”
Bugliosi wrote that “there was no evidence whatsoever that Linda Kasabian had been inside the Tate residence or that she had seen Sharon Tate’s body.”
Besides Tate (played by Margot Robbie in the film), and her unborn baby, those killed on Aug. 9, 1969 were celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski, Folger’s coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and 18-year-old visitor Steven Parent. One night later, the Manson clan murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
Manson was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole when the California Supreme Court’s People v. Anderson invalidated all death sentences prior to 1972. He served out his life sentence and died at age 83 in 2017. Tex Watson was found guilty of murder and imprisoned in 1971. Krenwinkel was also convicted of all counts and sentenced to death, which was also commuted to life in prison. Despite many parole hearings, she remains incarcerated. Atkins received the same sentence as Krenwinkel, but died in 2009.
Of course, in Tarantino’s movie, history gets rewritten.
Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood': How the Stars Compare to Real-Life Characters (Photos)
Quentin Taratino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is set on 1969 around the time of the notorious 1969 Manson Family murders -- and features a mix of both real-life and fictional characters.
Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, play a (fictitious) washed-up Western actor who lives next door to actress (and true-life murder victim) Sharon Tate; Brad Pitt plays his longtime stunt double. Here's how the cast matches up with their real-life counterparts.
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Margot Robbie ("I, Tonya") plays actress Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant when she was murdered by the Charles Manson Family. (Her husband, director Roman Polanski, was in Europe shooting a movie at the time.)
Australian actor Damon Herriman ("Justified") plays the notorious Charles Manson.
Bruce Dern plays George Spahn, the aged California rancher who was persuaded to allow the Manson Family to live on his property. (Dern stepped in after the September 2018 death of Burt Reynolds, who was originally cast in the role.)
Dakota Fanning ("The Alienist") portrays Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a Charles Manson disciple who later attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford.
Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild") plays celebrity hair stylist and Manson Family murder victim Jay Sebring (né Thomas Kummer).
Polish actor Rafal Zawierucha ("Warsaw 44") plays the young Roman Polanski, who was filming a movie in Europe when his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was killed.
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"Empire" and "Inhumans" actor Mike Moh plays kung-fu master Bruce Lee, who had trained Tate for her fight scenes in one of her movies.
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Wayne Maunder was a star of CBS' late-1960s Western series "Lancer" -- and in the film a co-star of Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Rick Dalton. He's played by the late "Beverly Hills 90210" actor Luke Perry.
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James Stacy was an actor who starred in the '60s TV Western "Lancer" as the brother of Maunder's character. (He was also briefly married to Connie Stevens.) In "Once Upon a Time," he's played by former "Justified" star Timothy Olyphant.
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Popular 1960s actress and singer Connie Stevens -- and the wife of James Stacy at the time -- is played by "Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23" alum Dreama Walker.
Damian Lewis ("Billions") plays actor Steve McQueen.
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Rebecca Rittenhouse ("The Mindy Project") plays the Mamas and the Papas singer Michelle Phillips.
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Rumer Willis ("Empire") plays Joanna Pettet, a British actress who appeared in movies like "The Group" -- and who also lunched with Sharon Tate on the day of her murder.
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Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich in "The Sound of Music," plays actor turned TV director Sam Wanamaker.
Austin Butler ("The Carrie Diaries," "The Shanarra Chronicles") plays Charles "Tex" Watson, a central member of Manson's Family who committed multiple murders and was later convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder.
Susan Atkins, who was convicted for her participation in eight of the nine killings linked to Manson Family, is played by "Better Things" star Mikey Madison.
Madisen Beaty ("The Fosters," "Aquarius") appears as Katie, the nickname for Manson Family member Patricia Krenwinkel, who was convicted of murder for her role in the slaying of Sharon Tate and four others on Cielo Drive.
Newcomer Dallas Jay Hunter plays Linda Kasabian, a former member of the Manson Family who accompanied Watson, Atkins and Krenwinkel to the murders at Polanski's home -- and later became a star witness in their subsequent murder trials.
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Lena Dunham ("Girls") portrays Catherine "Gypsy" Share, a follower of Manson who did not participate in the Sharon Tate murders.
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Voytek Frykowski (a.k.a. Wojciech Frykowski), the Polish actor who was killed along with others in Roman Polanski's home on L.A.'s Cielo Drive, is played by Russian-born actor Costa Ronin ("The Americans").
Abigail Folger, a Manson Family victim who was heiress to the Folger coffee fortune and girlfriend of Frykowski, is played by "The Love Witch" actress Samantha Robinson.
"The Leftovers" star Margaret Qualley plays Kitty Kat, based on Manson Family member Kathryn "Kitty" Lutesinger, the girlfriend of convicted murderer Bobby Beausoleil.
Newcomer Victoria Pedretti plays Lulu, the nickname for Manson Family member and convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten -- who was 19 at the time of the slayings.
James Landry Hébert ("Stranger Things") plays Steve "Clem" Grogan, a member of the Manson Family who was convicted of the August 1969 killing of Spahn ranch hand Donald Shea -- which occurred weeks after the Sharon Tate murders.
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Many stars in Tarantino’s 2019 movie play actual people in 1969 Los Angeles, from Steve McQueen to Sharon Tate
Quentin Taratino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is set on 1969 around the time of the notorious 1969 Manson Family murders -- and features a mix of both real-life and fictional characters.