Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel

Rick Dalton leaves the hair and makeup trailer with a fake mustache that Sam loves. As Rick explores the set, he thinks about his character, Caleb DeCoteau. Caleb is the leader of a gang that steals cattle from Murdock Lancer. Although Johnny doesn’t know the truth, Murdock spent years trying to find Marta and Johnny after they left, especially when he knew Marta was dead. Years later, he discovered that Johnny Madrid was his long-lost son. He wired Johnny money to travel back to Lancer Ranch to help him fight off Caleb DeCoteau and his gang in exchange for their inheritance of Lancer Ranch.

Rick finds a spot to sit and read his book next to Trudi Frazer, a child actor who plays Mirabella. He knows that they have a scene together later that day in which Caleb DeCoteau kidnaps Mirabella and holds her for ransom. Trudi, who is eight years old, tells Rick that she doesn’t eat lunch before she’s about to film a scene because she thinks it makes her sluggish. She tells him that he should call her “Mirabella” when they’re on set (even when they aren’t filming) because she believes it makes her focus on her character more. Trudi asks Rick the premise of the book that he’s reading, and he tells her that it’s about a man named “Easy Breezy.” Easy Breezy was talented at breaking horses when he was in his twenties, but when he’s in his thirties, he gets injured. At the point in the story where Rick is reading, Easy Breezy is coming to terms with how he’s no longer useful. As Rick explains his book, he chokes up, and Trudi comforts him. After Rick composes himself, Trudi asks Rick to really scare her in their scene later because she wants to put it on her reel. She makes Rick promise that he won’t hold back in their scene.

Cliff’s most famous fight was with Bruce Lee. When Cliff was doubling for Rick in The Green Hornet, Cliff encountered Lee bragging about how he’d win in a fight between himself and Muhammad Ali. Cliff laughed at this statement, and Lee challenged Cliff to a fight. Cliff let Lee knock him down the first time to get his guard down, but when Lee tried the same kick a second time, Cliff threw him into a parked car. As they fought, Lee quickly realized that Cliff was a born killer. Randy’s wife broke up the fight and fired Cliff. Randy, the stunt gaffer, was happy to fire Cliff because he believed that Cliff murdered his wife. After the incident, Cliff could no longer get work as a stuntman, so he became Rick’s driver instead.

Cliff takes Rick’s car to go to a movie while he waits for Rick to finish filming. On the way, he sees the same brunette hippie he’s seen before on the side of the road. She asks for a ride, but she isn’t going his way, so he turns her down.

Sharon Tate runs errands around Los Angeles. She picks up a hitchhiker and chats with her along the way. Sharon picks up a first edition of Tess of the D’Urbervilles as a present for Roman. She notices that her most recent movie, The Wrecking Crew, is playing at a theater across the street. The Wrecking Crew is Sharon’s first role in physical comedy, and she remembers how nervous she was to slip and fall in front of Dean Martin. Sharon decides to go in and see the movie. The theater manager is thrilled and lets Sharon see the movie for free. As she enters the theater, Sharon thinks about how Roman taught her about the art of filmmaking. Sharon realized that Roman loved the control he had over the audience in the simple choice of camera placement, and this, she understood, was art.

Sharon knows that The Wrecking Crew isn’t a major film like Rosemary’s Baby, but she still enjoys it. During one of Sharon’s pratfalls, the audience roars with laughter, which delights her. She turns around to see the faces in the darkness smiling and laughing, and she feels satisfied with her work. Sharon remembers when she got the role of Freya Carlson in the film. Even though she was nervous to play a slapstick character, the director told her that she was the best part of the movie and that the movie didn’t really start until she came on screen. Sharon hears the audience laugh at another one of her falls and realizes how good it feels to make people happy.

Rick discusses the character of Caleb DeCoteau with Sam. Sam thinks that Rick should play Caleb as if he were Edmund from King Lear. Rick knows little about Shakespeare but tries to keep up with Sam’s advice. Sam tells Rick that he’d be “a killer Edmund” (195) and that he’d love to direct him in a version of King Lear someday. This flatters Rick, although he knows that he’d have to do a lot of research to master the British accent. Sam tells Rick that even if he hasn’t seen a lot of Shakespeare, many Westerns are based on Shakespearean themes. Sam instructs Rick to think of Caleb’s character as a mixture of Edmund and Hamlet, which still means nothing to Rick.