As it happens, your humble scribe was in the Tarantino zone yesterday, making the foolish idea of putting The Hateful Eight on at 1am. Cracking film, stunning in fact, but the 3-hour run time wasn’t exactly the wisest of plans for that time in the morning. But we digress. What we’re here to discuss today, though, is the first piece of confirmed casting for QT’s next picture.

We’ve known for a little while now that Tarantino’s next effort was to be based in and around the infamous Manson Family murders, and we’d heard plenty of names being rumoured for the film. Well now, one of those names has officially signed on the dotted line; the name being Leonardo DiCaprio.

Deadline broke the news, and this will mark the second time that DiCaprio and Tarantino have worked together; the duo previously having teamed up for Django Unchained. In this new to-be-titled effort, DiCaprio will play an aging actor.

Set in 1969, the early word from Vanity Fair on the film reads:

Set in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969, Tarantino’s upcoming movie, according to a source who read the script, focuses on a male TV actor who’s had one hit series and is looking for a way to get into the film business. His sidekick – who’s also his stunt double – is looking for the same thing. The horrific murder of Sharon Tate and four of her friends by Charles Manson’s cult of followers serves as a backdrop to the main story.

As well as DiCaprio, other names previously rumoured for the picture range from Samuel L. Jackson, to Brad Pitt, to Tom Cruise, with Margot Robbie reportedly eyed for the Sharon Tate role.

With Sony producing the film, Tarantino’s next picture is currently booked in for an August 9th, 2019 release.