Quentin Tarantino’s Charles Manson Film Will Make Roman Polanski a Major Character

Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film has already been revealed to concern the Manson Family murders that took place in the late 1960s. Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio is the only cast member thus far confirmed to star, but Tarantino has now revealed, per Indiewire, that Roman Polanski will be a key character in the story.

Before the grisly murders he inspired took place, Manson was an aspiring singer-songwriter in Los Angeles whose only claim to fame was an association with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. He attracted a communal cult following that became known as the Manson Family. Interestingly enough, Manson never actually killed any of his victims himself. Members of his Family always did his dirty work, at his request of course.

Manson and his followers gained national notoriety when his followers brutally murdered actress and model Sharon Tate in 1969 inside her home, along with four others: Steve Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger. Tate had been married to director Roman Polanski at the time. The most horrifying reveal from the murder was that Tate was also pregnant when she was killed.

Obviously, if Tarantino’s forthcoming film revolves, Pulp Fiction-style, around the Manson Family murders, specifically Sharon Tate’s, Polanski is the likely choice to be featured in the film and consulted with. In 1977, eight years after Tate’s murder, Polanski was arrested and charged with drugging and raping a young girl. He pleaded guilty to “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor,” went through psychiatric evaluation and even spent over 40 days in prison awaiting sentencing, finding out that the judge planned to imprison him. The director fled the U.S. to Paris before the trial and has since been barred from re-entering the United States. He is, by all accounts, a fugitive from justice who later admitted to raping a thirteen-year-old girl. Obviously, including such a person in a film, even a fictionalized version of him, is going to be a problem.

Look, it should be no surprise Roman Polanski was going to play a part in Tarantino’s 1969 film because it features Sharon Tate’s death. It’s all about how QT portrays him.

— Michael (@JokerCritic) February 2, 2018

With all that said, Tarantino’s ninth film is sure to be interesting and perhaps a refreshing departure from his most recent hyperbolic films. There’s no concrete news on other casting announcements yet, except that Tarantino is eyeing Oscar nominee Margot Robbie as Tate and a fresh Polish theatre actor to play Polanski, rather than a Hollywood star. Al Pacino, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are said to be circling the project, but none have signed on just yet. Production is set to begin in the spring, which means casting announcements will be made soon.

Tarantino plans to have the film released on Aug. 9, 2019 in order to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Tate’s murder. Hopefully, when the film premieres and the 2020 Oscars come around, people still remember that Polanski should not be allowed into this country, no matter how many years it’s been, unless it’s to face justice.