Квентин Тарантино - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - The First Novel By Quentin Tarantino

“He’s the bastard son,” Sam reminds him. “He’s the bastard son who’s been resentful his whole life.”

Any resentful character could be called a character that Rick was born to play. “Well, I can get behind that,” Rick says sincerely.

“He’s resentful because the king excluded him,” Sam explains.

“Right,” Rick says.

Sam declares, “You would be a killer Edmund.”

Really? Rick thinks.

“Well, thank you,” Rick says, “I’m flattered you think so.”

Rick can’t even read Shakespeare, no less speak it, no less know what he’s saying when he says it.

“And I would be honored to direct you in it,” Sam declares.

Practically blushing, Rick repeats, “Well, again, I’m flattered.”

Sam starts web-spinning: “I mean, it could be something we do together. I think the time has come that I have enough gray in my hair to be right for Lear .”

Rick admits honestly, “Well, I’d hafta do some reading up. I gotta be honest, I ain’t read much Shakespeare.”

Or any , Rick thinks.

“That’s not an issue,” Sam insists. “I can work with you on that.”

“Would I hafta do it in a British accent?” Rick asks.

“Oh dear lord, no! I wouldn’t allow that.” Sam explains, “I know it seems as if the Brits have a monopoly on the Bard.”

Who’s the Bard? Rick thinks.

“But in my opinion,” Sam proclaims, “it’s actually American English that is closer to the English spoken in Will’s day.”

Rick asks, “Will who? Oh shit, Shakespeare!”

Sam continues, “Yes, not that pompy hammy purple prose of the Maurice Evans school.”

Pompy hammy purple what? Maurice who?

“The best Shakespearean actors are American actors. Actually, truth be told, Spanish or Mexican actors—when they do it in English—are the best Shakespearean actors. Ricardo Montalban’s Macbeth —amazing! But Americans come closest to capturing the poetry of the streets that is what Shakespeare truly is when it’s done correctly—which it rarely is. That is, unless the American actor’s trying to do it in a British accent. That’s the worst.”

“Yeah, I hate that,” a lying Rick agrees. “Well, like I said, I ain’t done much Shakespeare. I mostly been cast in westerns.”

“Well, you’d be surprised how many westerns the plot is Shakespearean,” Sam tells him. Then he points again at James Stacy, across the set with little Trudi Frazer still sitting in his lap, and says, “You see, whenever there’s a struggle for power or who’s going to be the leader, that’s pure Shakespearean.”

Rick nods his head and says, “Yes, I see.”

“And that’s the relationship you two have—Caleb and Johnny—a struggle for power. And when we do your final scene today, the ransom scene with the little girl, we can have a discussion about Hamlet .”

Rick asks, “You mean Caleb is like Hamlet?”

“And an Edmund.”

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know the difference.”

“Well, they’re both angry, conflicted young men. And that’s why I cast you in this. But underneath Hamlet, underneath Edmund, there’s a rattlesnake.”

“A rattlesnake?”

“On a motorcycle.”

Chapter Sixteen

James Stacy

Jim Stacy had waited for a little over ten years to get his own series. And now, on the first day of production, on the pilot for his new series Lancer , that day has finally arrived.

In the mid-sixties he starred in two pilots: A half-hour sitcom where he played a young pediatrician, titled And Baby Makes Three , which featured Joan Blondell and a pre–Mary Tyler Moore Gavin MacLeod in the supporting cast. And a half-hour action show called The Sheriff , about a beach-town sheriff played by Mexican movie star Gilbert Roland and a gang of rowdy surfers led by Stacy. Neither show was picked up for a full series. But Lancer , which was produced by Twentieth Century Fox for CBS, was an expensive pilot and a sure pickup for the fall schedule.

The man now known as James Stacy was born Maurice Elias in Los Angeles. The roguishly handsome football-playing tough guy came to acting via an origin story similar to that of a lot of young men of his era. Maurice had already become a star at his high school due to his combination of good looks and gridiron success. His idolization of James Dean (also like a lot of other young men of his era) led him to adopt his idea of a Dean-like brooding persona and take a few acting classes. And, like a lot of other young men and women who were the best-looking people at their high school, Maurice decided to move to Hollywood and give acting a try. Being from Glendale, the handsome hunk didn’t have far to go.

Maurice Elias changed his name to James Stacy. First name in tribute to James Dean, second name in tribute to his favorite uncle, Stacy. He put some grease in his hair, wore tight jeans, and hung around Schwab’s drugstore, waiting to be discovered.

His first real part was a recurring character as one of Ricky Nelson’s buddies on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet . For seven years he hung around the local malt shop as part of Ricky’s crew, eating hamburgers and drinking milkshakes. And appeared in the background of military-themed movies with other future TV stars: Lafayette Escadrille with Tom ( Billy Jack ) Laughlin, Clint ( Rawhide ) Eastwood, David ( Richard Diamond ) Janssen, and Will ( Sugarfoot ) Hutchins. And in South Pacific , also with Tom Laughlin, Doug ( Overland Trail ) McClure, and Ron ( Tarzan ) Ely.

Stacy received his first real roles guesting on episodic TV shows: Have Gun–Will Travel , Perry Mason , Cheyenne , and Hazel. His first featured role in a major motion picture was alongside Hayley Mills in Disney’s Summer Magic .

Later he and the Lafayette Escadrille director’s son, William Wellman Jr., would star in two beach-party-type flicks that wouldn’t take place on a beach. In 1964’s Winter A-Go-Go , which takes place at a Lake Tahoe ski resort, Stacy canoodles with sixties’ pussycat Beverly Adams (who would later marry Vidal Sassoon). Jim even sings a snazzy number called Hip Square Dance , written by those Monkees hitmakers Boyce and Hart. Then a year later he’d again join “Wild Bill” Wellman Jr. in A Swingin’ Summer , which takes place at Lake Arrowhead. This one includes a good guest bit by the Righteous Brothers, doing the only real rocker in their songbook, Justine . But the real reason anybody remembers the flick is an early appearance by Raquel Welch, who steals the show as a bespectacled bookworm who tosses off her Buddy Holly glasses and turns into a sex bomb as she sings her big number, I’m Ready to Groove, backed by Gary Lewis and the Playboys!

During this time, Stacy married one of the sixties’ most charming actresses, Connie Stevens; the marriage lasted four years. Then, after numerous guest shots in the late sixties, Stacy would do the project that set him up for TV stardom.

At the time, one of the most popular shows on the CBS schedule was Gunsmoke . But by the late sixties, Gunsmoke star James Arness tried to appear on the show as little as possible. Even though Arness only made guest appearances on his own show, the series was such a staple of the network that it never affected viewership. So CBS let him get away with it (Arness didn’t want to leave and do movies, he just didn’t want to work). But that allowed CBS the opportunity to build episodes around exciting guest stars. And if those guest stars scored on their Gunsmoke episode, they were pretty much guaranteed a show of their own on the next season’s CBS fall schedule.