By Keith Nelson Jr.

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We are getting closer to re-entering the gory imagination of Quentin Tarantino as a top-tier actor has reportedly joined the cast of his upcoming film about the Manson Family murders of 1969. Leonardo DiCaprio has been confirmed as being cast in the upcoming film, Tarantino’s ninth as a director.

In the film, DiCaprio will play the role of an aging actor on what Deadline describes as a “Pulp Fiction-esque movie set” during the summer of 1969. The Titanic actor being cast as an older actor carries a bit of irony. Before Tarantino cast DiCaprio as racist plantation owner Calvin Candie in 2012’s Django Unchained, he had wanted an older actor to play the role, but rewrote it to take into account DiCaprio’s age.

DiCaprio is the first major actor cast in the film, but there has been speculation about other top-tier actors joining the project. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise were rumored to play two lead male actor roles around the same time reports came out of DiCaprio possibly joining the cast. Tarantino is also interested in I, Tonya star Margot Robbie playing the role of Sharon Tate, the actress who was among the people murdered by the Manson Family. If Robbie does get cast in the film, it will be her first time acting opposite DiCaprio since the pair played an unhappily married couple in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

Ever since word got out in July 2017 that the famed director’s next film would be about the Manson Family murders, Tarantino has been mum on additional details. When discussing the film in November, he remarked, “It’s not Charles Manson. It’s 1969.” That description falls in line with Vanity Fair’s synopsis of the film based on an anonymous source who claims to have read the script. The film is described as focusing on a TV actor looking to break into the film business, and the murders are a backdrop to that story. Based on that description, you could assume DiCaprio will play the actor, and be the main focus of the film.

Tarantino originally was planning to make the movie with The Weinstein Company, the production company that has produced nearly every Tarantino film. Yet, after a bevy of sexual assault allegations were levied at executive Harvey Weinstein, Tarantino decided to take his film to Sony Pictures.

Tarantino is also reportedly working on an R-rated Star Trek film with The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith. Tarantino’s untitled film about the Manson family murders is expected to be released on August 9, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the crime.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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