Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood to premiere at Cannes

Quentin Tarantino’s mystery crime drama Once Upon A Time In Hollywood will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.

The film was absent from the earlier festival programme, with reports suggesting it would not be completed in time.

Thierry Fremaux, the festival’s general delegate, said the Pulp Fiction creator had proved himself a “real, loyal and punctual child of Cannes” by “spending days and nights in the editing room” to complete the work in time.

The film is set in 1969 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a faded TV actor, Brad Pitt as his stunt double and Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate.

Tate, a pregnant Hollywood actress married to director Roman Polanski, was one of five people murdered by a cult led by Charles Manson in August 1969.

Tarantino shot the feature, which is slated for an August release, in 35mm which takes longer to edit than digital film.

Fremaux said: “We were afraid the film would not be ready, as it wouldn’t be released until late July, but Quentin Tarantino, who has not left the editing room in four months, is a real, loyal and punctual child of Cannes.

“Like for Inglourious Basterds, he’ll definitely be there – 25 years after the Palme d’or for Pulp Fiction – with a finished film screened in 35mm and his cast in tow.

Confirming that DiCaprio, Robbie and Pitt were also expected to attend the premier, Fremaux added: “His film is a love letter to the Hollywood of his childhood, a rock music tour of 1969, and an ode to cinema as a whole.

“In addition to thanking Quentin and his crew for spending days and nights in the editing room, the festival wants to give special thanks to the teams at Sony Pictures, who made all of this possible.”

The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14-25, with Jim Jarmusch’s zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die as opening film.