Before people knew what Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was actually called, people were calling it Quentin Tarantino’s Charles Manson movie. For anyone who’s actually seen the movie, you’ll know that description is pretty far off the mark, as Manson is barely in the movie for more than five minutes.
But it seems as though it maybe wasn’t always the case that the cult leader wasn’t really a huge part of the movie and that a lot of his scenes were cut.
Damon Herriman, who played Manson in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as well as in David Fincher’s Mindhunter on Netflix, has revealed he shot a lot more scenes than what was included in the final cut.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly the Australian actor spoke about the differences between the projects as well as how much was cut from Tarantino’s film.
“For me, it was fairly evident where the differences lie. The tonal thing you get from the script: Mindhunter was very much a drama, OUATH obviously has that Tarantino tone.
“And we did shoot a little more than what’s in the film. He did cut quite a lot out of the film. The stuff I got to do in that was lighter and more of a fun tone, whereas in Mindhunter, Manson is in jail and he’s bitter and he’s angry at the world.”
Tarantino apparently considered making the movie longer after it premiered at Cannes, and it’s believed the first cut of the movie ran four hours and 20 minutes long and included everything. The movie now runs at two hours and 45 minutes.
One of the Manson scenes that didn’t make the cut was apparently quite “humorous”, however, Herriman didn’t reveal too much about the scene in case it’s ever released.
“With OUATH, it’s hard to talk about in too much detail without referencing another scene that we shot, which I probably shouldn’t talk about. That may make an appearance at some point and I don’t want to spoil it for people.
“Certainly, with what I shot in total, the direction was more in line with the tone of the particular scene, which is a more humorous scene than anything I did in Mindhunter. But obviously the Manson we see in the film now, there’s nothing humorous about that at all and I think that’s obviously a choice that Quentin has made to keep Manson as this ominous figure who you just get a glimpse of but you don’t get to know at all.
“There’s something about that that works brilliantly in terms of what then hangs over the rest of the film.
Herriman added that despite it being a little weird he was cast as Manson twice, he’s not complaining about it.
“I’m not complaining because, obviously, it was an opportunity to work with two of the greatest filmmakers of their generation. So, I’m way happier than I am weirded out.”
Would he consider doing it again?
“Never say never, but I think that would be highly unlikely and probably very stupid of me to be really sitting in concrete, the fact that this is the guy I play. ‘I have one string in my bow and it’s called Charles Manson.’ I joke that maybe the only way you could do that a third time is if it’s in a comedy, but I still don’t think that’s a great idea. I’ve had my fair share of Manson.”
Fair enough!