Quentin Tarantino's Manson murders movie

There is a great film to be made about the Manson murders (just like there was a great film to be made about the O.J. case), but no, I doubt very much that Tarantino's the guy to make it.

I really liked the first episode of the Karina Longworth series. I don't know this story well. The film history lens she brings seems apt.

Yeah it works very well, she's great for contemporary context.

I love You Must Remember This but don't get why everyone thinks the Manson season is the best one, she does a good job but it's such an overexplored subject? But I'm also just not a true crime guy.

i can't put my finger on which movie villain or sci-fi character tarantino reminds me of here:

http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2017/07/quentin_tarantino_-_getty_-_h_2017.jpg

Dude from Phantasm seems to be the most frequent reference.

Tarantino basically looks like the vampire version of himself from from dusk till dawn these days

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-21q65Zr2qSs/Tq7usF5wGJI/AAAAAAAACT4/5AmDwPDb1t8/s1600/From+Dusk+Till+Dawn+1+10.jpg

He reminds me of Bad Cooper tbh

Thinking David Mitchell's Evil Genius character

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CTmLU9VOJlM/0.jpg

There's a great movie to be made about the Manson family that focuses on the psychological path of the women. Tarantino's not the guy to make it.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKLqK4avrRM/UQQi1YXP2tI/AAAAAAAAIJU/RGUv1uRFsRI/s1600/tumblr_mekw0vEht01qdxpbvo1_500.jpg

http://iowa.barstoolsports.com/files/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-11-at-9.50.24-AM.png

There's a great movie to be made about the Manson family that focuses on the psychological path of the women.
― полезные дурак (Sanpaku)

That'd be one way to do it. Another would be to take the approach of Jeff Guinn's excellent biography (or simply adapt Guinn's book) and meticulously place Manson and his followers in the general breakdown of the moment--this cipher who wanders into a place and a time that's a perfect storm waiting to happen. It would have to be serious, lengthy (I'll again mention the O.J. film), and completely immersed in the material, not about the filmmaker. Tarantino has (had?) strengths, but the first and third there are not among them. He'll have Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten debating whether Green Acres or The Beverly Hillbillies is better.

I want to believe that Tarantino was finally inspired to pull the trigger after reading Mike Love's autobiography.

I love You Must Remember This but don't get why everyone thinks the Manson season is the best one, she does a good job but it's such an overexplored subject? But I'm also just not a true crime guy.

Never made that claim myself! Pretty much all the seasons are remarkable.

There's something about a Manson movie as filtered through Dennis Wilson's increasingly-panicked accounts to an increasingly-incredulous Mike Love that I find darkly hilarious.

they should adopt from "On His Own Words":

http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347289621l/651024.jpg

there was a really good documentary with interviews with the women and they were sitting on top of desks holding machine guns during the interview. i tried finding it but there are so many Manson movies.

Couldn't Tarantino be the subject of Charles Manson's next project instead?

— ＮＯＴ ＲＥＣＯＮＣＩＬＥＤ (@NickPinkerton) July 12, 2017

LOLLLLLLL

Or there's this, from the LAist comment section:

Cochise • 11 hours ago
Presumably Sharon Tate beats Manson's brains out with a baseball bat in the Tarantino version.

that was my first thought

Oliver Stone should have tried this in the 90s. get some of that Doors vibe in there

Excellent, a pregnant woman stabbed to death, and her blood being used to write "PIG" on the front door. Bit of Dusty Springfield over it. 👍 pic.twitter.com/caGENMlYhQ

— Limmy (@DaftLimmy) July 12, 2017

i can't believe they are going to make a movie about a murder. what a time to be alive.

I'm curious here...have you always been this blase about everything or what.

meticulously place Manson and his followers in the general breakdown of the moment--this cipher who wanders into a place and a time that's a perfect storm waiting to happen. It would have to be serious, lengthy (I'll again mention the O.J. film), and completely immersed in the material, not about the filmmaker.

I still don't know if that would add anything: what you're describing has kinda been the narrative since Didion at least, and late 60's a much more well-trodden period than OJ's 90's.

Presumably Sharon Tate beats Manson's brains out with a baseball bat in the Tarantino version.

This is almost a best case scenario for me. I'll take a cowering Manson getting his comeuppance over yet another unwitting glamourization of a shitty and not that interesting guy, which is what it'll probably turn out like.

I'm curious here...have you always been this blase about everything or what.

yes for year and people keep bringing it up like it is a new observation.

for years rather

yet another unwitting glamourization of a shitty and not that interesting guy

you know he wasn't the only person involved. he wasn't even there for the famous murders. there is a whole cult full of people and personalities.

of course don't let that stop you from judging a movie that hasn't been made yet.

Oliver Stone made a fucking 9/11 movie five years after the fact. What's the damage here? I understand people not being excited about broken record QT making this, but why the indignation over making a movie about a very famous murder that happened nearly 50 years ago?

World Trade Center and United 93 are so much more contemptible and offensive than anything QT has done.

agree xpost

I am still something of a Tarantino believer sigh - and think there is the possibility of a good film from this. I like the wayward nature of his filmography - he hasn't just ground out endless variations of Pulp Fiction, he made two period Westerns in a row etc - and this seems to me an unexpected and interesting choice. His first foray into non-fiction - it could be his Zodiac.

Martha Marcy May Marlene was the perfect pseudo-Manson movie imo. Maintained just the right tone without veering into exploitation. I guess it's pretty much a guarantee that Tarantino will maniacally whip the wheel directly towards exploitation, which is what gives me pause here (given certain details mentioned above).

v highly doubt this will be as good a Zodiac

xp

this could suck, it could be great idk his last two films don't inspire confidence though

(xposts) Ditto. Arguing how it should be made, or who should make it, that's an interesting argument. Arguing that it shouldn't be made--that no one has a right to make it because the events were too traumatic--I don't get that at all.

These murders were spectacularly exploited by the media from the first days afterward and that exploitation has never stopped. Further exploitation is simply a continuation of a well-established 50 year trend.

that's pretty much Charlie's stance, too

yeah i don't really gaf about that

xp

xp In that one regard Charlie would be correct.

I have to admit that I would be v curious to see a Dennis Wilson character in this - the Two Lane Blacktop connection might make it irresistable for QT

(xpost) Mountains of exploitation to be sure, but I wouldn't call the Jeff Guinn book exploitative (or, from whatever dim memory I have of it, Ed Sanders' book)--they were thoughtful attempts to try to extract some glimmer of understanding out of what happened, which is what I'd want from the thoughtful film that I think is there. Which is why, to me, Tarantino seems particularly ill-suited for this.

Martha Marcy May Marlene was the perfect pseudo-Manson movie imo. Maintained just the right tone without veering into exploitation.

yeah but that movie is like...so good. kind of a miracle it got made at all

I love it! Probably among my top ten of the decade.

Last year's Tower, about Charles Whitman's murders in 1966, might be instructive. The filmmaker's were clearly sensitive to making the film primarily about the victims, not Whitman. I think they leaned too far in that direction--I wanted to know more Whitman than they provided--but it was far from exploitative, and what happened there was arguably even more dumbfoundingly and terrifyingly random than with Manson.

Martha Marcy May Marlene has been on my watchlist since forever, I should really get around to that

This really has nothing to do with Tarantino, but MMMM is one of the films that these three guys sort of make together, Sean Durkin, Antonio Campos and Josh Mond, and pretty much all their films are worthwhile. Simon Killer and James White are really good as well, and heard that Christine should be good too. Worth following what they do.

tarantino might surprise me on this, i don't think he's incapable of it talent-wise. if it's going to be made, i'll withhold judgement. i suspect it'll be closer to "not good" than "great" but we'll see.

also Pinkerton's tweet is dumb.

idk I wouldn't really expect historical veracity from QT so some kind of alternative/revisionism might make sense

would lol if movie ends with a race war

Think that maybe when he arrived at 3:00PM he had been working at the studios earlier, but maybe sometimes he was only pretending that was the case, was the impression I got.

Felt like the doc made his relationship with Shannon Tate much more relatable than any stereotypical impressions I might have had earlier and ultimately very sweet and touching, if I may.

Also, as a Star Trek TOS fan of the Morbius vintage, I really appreciated seeing Barbara Luna (although now maybe she styles it BarBara) show up at a key point.

Is it common knowledge that Tate was about to file for divorce (with the implication being so she could reunite with Sebring)? I don't remember hearing that anywhere. That's partly what I meant by special pleading.

Feel like I have heard that before but couldn't tell you where.

Criterion posted a thing a few days ago for Sharon Tate's birthday.

Teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw8x8NWGnDM

I weirdly had a dream that I was watching this movie the other day, in this movie in my dream, Cliff Booth possibly accidentally kills Sharon Tate. I remember thinking that it was lame that they felt they had to correct this for this movie.

man I do not bear any especial hate toward tarantino but I had to tap out on even the trailer, it just does not seem good

Apparently it's directed by Fincher! Tarantino wrote the script. Pitt supposedly pursued Fincher to direct?

Gotta admit, this looks shite

Didn't much like The Killer or Mank, but I think that trailer looks kind of promising for such a questionable premise (and I'd rather have a different director this time).

Spotted a Looking for Mr. Goodbar poster...

Somebody on Bluesky said, "Oh good, another David Fincher movie lit with a single firefly."

Netflix dominoes are falling, David Fincher is now getting the “Greta deal” (the first deal) and will debut Cliff Booth movie in IMAX theaters globally over Thanksgiving and then on Netflix for Christmas. AMC facilitating this despite the short window.

— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) May 20, 2026

ha, Vanity Fair's John Ross predicted this on the Little Gold Men podcast last week

(well, predicted it would get a wider theatrical release than the usual Netflix title)

(although I guess maybe this is just a two-week release, so I don't know what I'm talking about)

I’d rather see a movie of the gorlami dude adjusting to life after war or whatever

Wild that a very successful director like Fincher has to fight to get a theatrical release for established IP