It comes as no surprise that there are so many more fan theories surrounding Once Upon A Time In Hollywood than almost any other Quentin Tarantino movie, as it’s his most meditative movie and reflective on the movie industry at large. The film is arguably Tarantino’s best movie thanks largely to the camaraderie between Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), but it’s what isn’t said in the movie that makes it more interesting.
As there are so many references to old westerns and war movies, it has expectedly led to fans trying to connect them to Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and almost every other Tarantino movie too. And given how there’s one big loose end that rivals that of the briefcase mystery in Pulp Fiction, Hollywood is ripe with fan theories, with some being mind-blowing, and others being pretty preposterous.
Ridiculous: It Was All A Dream
The idea that the entire plot was all in the protagonist’s head is such an overused trope in Hollywood, and it’s generally reserved as the ultimate deus ex machina for when screenwriters have written themselves into a corner.
However, this theory has some weight to it, as one fan posits that everything that happens after Cliff smokes the LSD dipped cigarette is in his head, which is pretty logical considering he mentioned he likes to daydream earlier on. This would mean that the whole thing didn’t happen and it wasn’t an alternate history at all, but that the real murders actually happened in the movie. Still, it's hard to imagine this was real.
Makes Sense: Bruce Lee Kills Charles Manson
As much of the movie is based on real-life people, Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) features at one point, and this Redditor came to the theory that Bruce Lee kills Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) before the movie was actually released. But it actually makes sense, as Bruce Lee some connections to Sharon Tate’s murder in real life, being extremely close to Roman Polanski at the time.
The film didn’t end up featuring much of Charles Manson, though it’s something that could be explored more in the novel. It leaves open the idea of continuing the alternate history by giving the cult leader the comeuppance he deserves. And though the theory was conjured up before the movie got its wide release, nothing in the movie actually rules out Bruce Lee killing Manson.
Ridiculous: Commentary About Being A Man In Modern Hollywood
One fan claims that the movie could be a commentary on being a man in modern Hollywood, and more importantly, the #metoo movement. The redditor’s reasoning behind coming to this conclusion is that the movie came off the heels of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the moral panic in Hollywood that followed, along with all of the machismo that’s featured in the movie.
However, it’s unlikely this is the case, as Tarantino was surely almost finished with the screenplay by the time the #metoo movement happened.
Makes Sense: The Line That Foreshadows The End
Early on in the movie, after Rick has learned that he’s a has-been, he mentions that he’s one pool party away from being in a new Polanski movie. And though it isn’t exactly a party by any stretch of the imagination, he is found in the pool at the end of the movie, setting one of the members of the Manson family on fire with a flame thrower.
Given how that’s what leads him to be introduced to Sharon Tate, he might even have met Polanski like he had been dreaming of after the credits rolled, meaning that this theory about the line being a foreshadow is right on the money.
Ridiculous: Cliff Changed Reality When Fixing Dalton’s Antenna
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood features one of the best alternate histories in a movie, as it changed the unfortunate events of the night of Sharon Tate’s murder into a vengeful cult killing bloodbath. But one out-there theory explains that the original events were supposed to happen until Cliff changed the antenna.
As an antenna is a signal receiver, when Booth moves it around, he could have inadvertently changed the signal being received by the universe. Though the theory makes a good point of wondering why there was ever any reason in Tarantino showing us Cliff fixing the antenna, it seems extremely farfetched.
Makes Sense: Bounty Law Is Based On Django Unchained
As many of Tarantino’s movies are linked in one form or another, whether it's through characters being relatives or sightings of Big Kahuna burgers and Red Apple cigarettes, it could be that Hollywood and Django Unchained are linked too. The fact that Hollywood has no particular genre is one of the ways it broke the Tarantino mold, but it does see Rick star in a lot of westerns, with one of them being Bounty Law.
In Bounty Law, the set of the show is the same location where Django and Dr. Schultz first travel to in the movie. And considering how both the movie and the fictional Rick Dalton show are both about bounty hunters, it’s more than possible that one is based on the other.
Ridiculous: Aldo Raine And Cliff Booth Are The Same Character
One fun theory comes to the conclusion that Cliff and Aldo Raine, the nazi killer from Inglourious Basterds, are the same person. It seems like the theory is grasping at straws more than anything and that ideas have been made up around the fact that it’s the same actor starring in two different Tarantino movies.
It’s fun to imagine, but the only connection between them is that Cliff is a stuntman and Aldo pretended to be a stuntman in Basterds. Besides that, the theory falls apart around every corner, as Aldo has a giant scar and a thick southern accent, neither of which Cliff has, and on top of that, Aldo would be in his 70s in Hollywood’s timeframe.
Makes Sense: Cliff Did Kill His Wife
Since it isn’t a Tarantino flick without at least one loose end that will leave fans speculating for years, the movie leaves audiences guessing over whether or not Cliff did actually kill his wife. This theory expertly breaks down why he likely did kill his wife, but accidentally, almost in a Vincent/Marvin-like way.
There is so much evidence in the movie of Cliff being a stand-up guy, whether it’s refusing Pussycat’s advances or being loyal to Rick, but when in a fight with Bruce Lee, Cliff clearly knows the distinction between murder and manslaughter. And since audiences find out the character has been to jail, it could very well be for manslaughter.
Ridiculous: Kurt Russell Is Stuntman Mike
Tarantino seems to love writing stuntmen as major characters, as Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) was the lead character in 2007’s Death Proof too. And some fans believe that Mike is the same character as Randy Miller (Russell) in Hollywood.
In Death Proof, Stuntman Mike is a serial killer, whereas Randy is an upstanding citizen, but fans think that Hollywood could be a prequel to Death Proof, taking place before Mike turned evil. However, given how Randy Miller is a director, not a stuntman, and he refuses to hire Cliff based on the fact that he believes he murdered his wife, it’s unlikely that the same man would ever turn into a serial killer.
Makes Sense: Rick Dalton Is In Django Unchained
In what is possibly the most mind-bending theory that actually makes sense, this theory posits that Django Unchained is a fictional movie within the world of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
It argues that in Django Unchained, it isn’t actually Leonardo DiCaprio playing Calvin Candie, but Rick Dalton. There’s some incredible evidence to back it up too, as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place in 1969, and Django Unchained has the Columbia Pictures logo that was used from 1968-1976. And given that the set for Django was also used in the set for Bounty Law, it could be the classic case of studios using the same sets back in the day.