Recreating 1969 Los Angeles in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Abstract

In Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, the director meticulously recreates 1969 Los Angeles. The film, however, presents a highly stylized interpretation of that period in history that—while detailed in its recreation—is nonetheless loose with some of the specifics of the era. The effect Tarantino creates is a deliberately cinematic interpretation of the past, bringing into question how much film can truly represent history.

Keywords:

• historical films
• Los Angeles
• Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
• production design
• Quentin Tarantino

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Douglas Rasmussen

Douglas Rasmussen earned his Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Saskatchewan. Since then he has published a number of journal articles and book chapters on various films (Death Proof, Scream, Haywire), television (Breaking Bad, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), as well as a handful of articles on popular music studies (Prince, David Bowie, and Queen).