Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt work closely together, but they reportedly had a disagreement during the filming of 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
This anecdote was told by co-star Bruce Dern to People magazine while celebrating his new documentary “Dernsey,” which debuts at the Cannes Film Festival. “Dernsey” is the name given to small lines or moments that Dern improvises to enhance his on-screen performance.
One of them came up while Dern was filming a scene with Pitt in “Hollywood” and described what happened when they improvised.
“When Brad Pitt wakes me up on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I’m in bed and I wake up and I’m a little bit groggy and I’m just like, ‘I don’t really understand what’s going on,'” Dern said. “I’m looking at him.[Pitt]turned off the camera. He turned off the camera. The look on Quentin’s face was — I mean, he was serious as hell — and he said, ‘Brad, what did you just do?’
“He said, “Well, I hung up my camera.” He said, “I’ll never hang up my camera again, or I’m going to die in this business.” That’s my domain. Don’t stop taking action,” Dern said. “So we continued the scene, and all Brad did to him was, ‘Well, what he said wasn’t in the script.'”
A source close to the co-stars told Variety: “Quentin is one of Brad’s favorite directors and the two have always had a great working relationship.”
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a critical and commercial hit, ultimately earning ten Academy Award nominations and winning two, including Best Supporting Actor for Pitt.
Variety has reached out to Pitt and Tarantino’s camps for comment.
