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Quentin Tarantino Told Brad Pitt He'd Be 'Dead In This Business' During On-Set Dustup, Actor Says
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Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt once clashed on the set of “Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood,” according to an account from fellow actor Bruce Dern this week. In a new interview with People at the Cannes Film Festival published Thursday, the longtime actor, 89, who co-starred with Pitt in the 2019 comedy film directed by Tarantino, detailed a heated exchange the pair had while filming. Dern was at Cannes to premiere director Mike Mendez’s documentary “Dernsie” on Wednesday. During the scene where Dern, who plays blind ranch owner George Spahn, is awoken by Pitt’s Cliff Booth, Dern said that Pitt made a move that sparked the spat between him and Tarantino. “When Brad Pitt wakes me up in ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,’ I’m in the bed and I get up and I’m a little groggy and stuff and I just say, ‘I’m not really sure what’s going on,’” Dern recalled. “I’m looking at him. [Pitt] cut the camera, [and told the crew to stop recording].” Dern said Tarantino looked “insanely grave” before saying to Pitt, “‘Brad, what did you just do?’” “[Pitt] said, ‘Well, I cut the camera.’ [Tarantino] said, ‘Never again in your life will you ever cut a camera or you’ll be dead in this business. That’s my domain. Don’t stop behavior.’ So then we went on and did the scene and all Brad did was say to him, ‘Well, that wasn’t in the script what he said.’” After the crew continued filming, Dern improvised a new line: “I don’t know who you are, but you touched me today. You came to visit me, now I gotta go back to sleep.” Both Pitt and Dern have worked with Tarantino before. Pitt won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood.” He also starred in Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” in 2009 and appeared briefly in Tony Scott’s 1993 “True Romance,” which Tarantino wrote. Dern previously appeared in Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” in 2012 and “The Hateful Eight” in 2015. Reps for Pitt and Tarantino didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment. Coming up, Pitt is set to reprise his Cliff Booth character in a Netflix spinoff to “Once Upon a Time” written by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher. “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” will premiere on Netflix on Dec. 23. Watch a trailer for “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” below. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.