Quentin Tarantino had a strict “no cell phones” on-set rule for his “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” cast and crew.
Timothy Olyphant, who plays actor James Stacy in the upcoming film, tells “The Rich Eisen Show” that Tarantino had a booth for cast and crew — including stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt — to check their cell phones in every day. If anyone was caught using their phone on set, it was grounds for firing.
“Quentin has got no cell phones on set. None. You’re fired. Cell phone…out, done, you’re going home,” the “Santa Clarita Diet” star says, adding that the film’s set was “unlike anything I have ever been on.”
He explains that people were allowed to access their phones but had to leave the set to do so.
“If you needed to make a phone call, you go out on the street and make a phone call,” Olyphant says.
But Tarantino’s rule wasn’t to keep photos or other plot details from leaking. Olyphant says it was to keep everyone present and in the moment without outside distraction. The director’s “no cell phones” policy has Olyphant’s approval as he calls it one of the “greatest gifts that he gave the entire crew and actors.”
“I think it’s about creating an environment where we are all here, making this thing,” he says. “That is what we are going to do. We aren’t going to be over there, doing some other thing. We are here, and this is what we are doing, and we are going to take it really seriously.”
“Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” hits theatres on July 26.
