What Oscar Snub Makes Quentin Tarantino Mad?

In 2019, Quentin Tarantino released an endlessly rewatchable masterpiece about someone trying to stay in the mix.

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood is a movie that hit me so hard the first time I watched it, and hit me again with each subsequent viewing.

It's a deep story about yearning in show business, wanting to be relevant and to collaborate with the greats. Wanting to be seen and to have a classic that people remember you for, and to have made your mark on the town, showing you belong.

But upon its release, it was nominated for a lot of awards but failed to win many.

Let's dive in.

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Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood took Hollywood by storm, the way any Tarantino movie does when it opens. People were crowding the theater to see how he handled the famous Sharon Tate story and to see his vision for what a just Hollywood might look like in those times.

Personally, I loved seeing a movie where everyone gets their chance at stardom and where the Hollywood gods shine down and let the righteous people live.

When awards season came around, the movie was nominated for a bunch of Oscars.

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood Academy Award Nominations:

• Best Picture
• Best Director for Quentin Tarantino
• Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of fading television star Rick Dalton
• Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt's role as the cool-headed stunt double Cliff Booth
• Best Original Screenplay for Quentin Tarantino's script
• Best Production Design for Barbara Ling (Production Design) and Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
• Best Cinematography for Robert Richardson
• Best Costume Design for Arianne Phillips
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Sound Mixing

But of these ten nominations, it only won two.

Brad Pitt won the award for Best Supporting Actor, his first-ever Oscar for acting. The film also triumphed in the Best Production Design, which was a testament to its immersive and detailed recreation of 1969 Los Angeles.

Of course, Tarantino was not satisfied.

There's a new book set to chronicle the making of the movie called The Making of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Jay Glennie, which is due to be released in late October. Tarantino talks about how hard it was to make this movie.

The Times has a chronicle of some quotes that I found to be really interesting.

But the one that stood out the most is the award he wishes the film had won.

Tarantino said, “Look, I am pissed, even now.” Tarantino continued, “The one that I am pissed off about losing out on is screenplay. I deserved to win the best screenplay Oscar … winning my third original screenplay Oscar would have tied me with Woody Allen. It would’ve been nice.”

That year, the movie lost to Parasite.

In my humble opinion, that's a pretty good movie to lose to. So I don't think Tarantino should take that one to heart. I do think at the time people did not appreciate Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood as much as they should have, but I am glad to see the fans have grown with it over the last six years.

And when we get the sequel to the movie directed by David Fincher, it will undoubtedly come back into the cultural lexicon.

With Tarantino directing a play next and no signs of coming back for his tenth feature, we can only hope he's able to put together one last hurrah that will win him all the awards he so rightfully deserves.

Let me know what you think in the comments.