June 8, 2026
Brad Pitt Angered Quentin Tarantino While Filming ‘Once Upon a Time’


Although Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt are close collaborators, they allegedly had one moment where they disagreed while filming 2019โ€™s โ€œOnce Upon a Timeโ€ฆ in Hollywood.โ€

The anecdote comes via co-star Bruce Dern, who spoke with People while celebrating a new documentary about him debuting at Cannes Film Festival named โ€œDernsie.โ€ A โ€œDernsieโ€ is the name given to little lines or moments Dern has improvised in order to enhance his onscreen performances.

One of these came up while Dern was shooting a scene with Pitt for โ€œHollywood,โ€ and he described what happened when he improvised.

โ€œWhen Brad Pitt wakes me up in โ€˜Once Upon a Timeโ€ฆ in Hollywood,โ€™ Iโ€™m in the bed and I get up and Iโ€™m a little groggy and stuff and I just say, โ€˜Iโ€™m not really sure whatโ€™s going on,’โ€ Dern said. โ€œIโ€™m looking at him. [Pitt] cut the camera. He cut the camera. The look on Quentinโ€™s face โ€” I mean, he was insanely grave โ€” and he said, โ€˜Brad, what did you just do?’โ€

โ€œHe said, โ€˜Well, I cut the camera.โ€™ He said, โ€˜Never again in your life will you ever cut a camera or youโ€™ll be dead in this business. Thatโ€™s my domain. Donโ€™t stop behavior,’โ€ Dern said. โ€œSo then we went on and did the scene and all Brad did was say to him, โ€˜Well, that wasnโ€™t in the script what he said.’โ€

โ€œOnce Upon a Timeโ€ฆ in Hollywoodโ€ was a critical and commercial hit which ended up being nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winning two,ย including a supporting actor trophy for Pitt.

Variety has reached out to Pitt and Tarantinoโ€™s camps for comment.

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