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Tarantino has cast an actor you've never heard of to play Charles Manson in his next film

'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' has found its murderous cult leader

Tarantino has cast an actor you've never heard of to play Charles Manson in his next film
29 August 2018

One lingering – and very important – question about Quentin Tarantino’s much-hyped upcoming flick Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is: who’s going to take on the role of the murderous cult leader Charles Manson?

Well, we’ve finally got our answer.

It’s been announced that the relatively little-known Australian actor Damon Herriman has been cast in the role.

Even though you may not have heard of him before, Herriman, 48, has actually been working for a long time with small parts in Breaking Bad and in the Clint Eastwood-helmed 2011 film J. Edgar. His biggest role to date has been playing Dewey Crowe in five seasons of the FX series Justified.

And the Ozzie actor certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to Manson, who died in November 2017.

Tarantino’s latest film is based around the infamous Manson family murders in the late 1960s, including the killing of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate at the home of her husband, director Roman Polanski.

Manson, an unemployed ex-con on the fringes of the LA music industry, was the cult leader who oversaw and masterminded the series of brutal killings and in 1971 he was convicted of first-degree murder.

This film, however, will reportedly only use the murders as a backdrop to tell the story of a fading TV actor (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (played by Brad Pitt) who are trying to make a name for themselves in the film industry in 1969 Los Angeles.

The absolutely *HUGE* ensemble cast also includes Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Burt Reynolds, Timothy Olyphant, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Damian Lewis, Luke Perry, Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, Lena Dunham, Austin Butler, Maya Hawke and Lorenza Izzo.

Filming on the movie began back in June in and around Los Angeles, and is expected to continue until around November, with a slated release of July 2019.

“I’ve been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was 7 years old,” Tarantino said about the project earlier.

“I’m very excited to tell this story of an LA and a Hollywood that don’t exist anymore.”

(Images: Getty)