Quentin Tarantino remembers growing up in LA, and creating a 'memory piece' in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino says  _Once Upon A Time in Hollywood_ was always meant to be a “memory piece,” a love-letter of sorts to Los Angeles, a place he spent his formative years in. From listening to the blasting radio and talking even louder in order to drown out the voices playing on the radio, to the billboards advertising Diet Rite and RC Cola, Tarantino has extracted fond growing up memories and injected them into the film. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tarantino speaks about his love for Los Angeles, and how his childhood memories are reflected in his latest feature. [caption id=“attachment_6689621” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, from left, Margot Robbie, director Quentin Tarantino and actor Brad Pitt at Cannes Film Festival.[/caption] “My stepfather drove a Karmann Ghia like Cliff’s character drives. And even that whole shot where you see Cliff driving by those signs, well that’s pretty much my view looking up at my stepfather in the Karmann Ghia as he drove around Los Angeles. It’s me looking up at him like that, an angle that is very similar to what we had with Brad. In the same way that Jackie Brown I think has me trying to capture the South Bay of the ’80s. That’s what I was trying to do with this,” he tells the publication. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a fading actor named Rick Dalton, who makes a cameo appearance in the ’60s Western TV show, Lancer. Luke Perry was cast in the movie as Wayne Maunder, who essayed the role of one of the leads, Scott Lancer on Lancer. Speaking about sharing the screen with the late actor, Leo says that he was “immediately struck by his kindness.” He describes how he was star-struck by Perry and was heartbroken when he learnt about his death.  Perry  passed away at 52 in March after suffering a major stroke. Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Timothy Olyphant, Emile Hirsch, Damian Lewis, Michael Madsen, Lena Dunham, and Kurt Russell are also a part of the stellar cast. The film is bankrolled by Shannon McIntosh and David Heyman, and will hit screens in India on 15 August.