It's been three years now since Quentin Tarantino's last film, The Hateful Eight, so now his latest cinematic release is starting to pick up some steam.
Set in Los Angeles in 1969, the film follows a former star of a Western TV series Rick Dalton and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth, who are both struggling to make it in a changing Hollywood. As it turns out, this is going to be quite the star-studded affair. The aforementioned Rick will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cliff will be played by Brad Pitt - but that's not all.
In a sinister twist, Margot Robbie will also be joining the cast as... Sharon Tate. That's right - the same Sharon Tate who was murdered by Charles Manson's cult group in 1969. From the start, it looks like this is a film that's planning on ruffling some feathers.
In recent weeks we've seen more and more big names make it onto the cast list, presumably all of Hollywood scrambling over one another to get a role in the director's movie, which may be his last. We recently learned that Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Burt Reynolds, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Timothy Olyphant will be joining Tarantino on set for the production - but there's one addition to the cast that has caused a stir.
You may know Emile Hirsch, from movies such as Milk, Lone Survivor, Killer Joe, and a star-making turn in the award-winning Into the Wild. But what you may not know is that he was charged with aggravated assault in January 2015. And for those that do know, this is not something actress Jameela Jamil wants you to forget.
Hirsch drunkenly attacked a woman, Paramount Pictures executive Daniele Bernfeld, at Sundance Film Festival two years ago. After he became increasingly violent - reportedly dragging her across a table and choking her until she passed out - the police were called, though Hirsch was not arrested at the time.
Later that year, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, and was sentenced to 15 days in jail. He was fined $4,750 and received 90 days of probation, as well as being ordered to undergo 50 hours of community service. Now, Jameela Jamil - perhaps best known for her role on NBC comedy The Good Place - has taken to social media to express her outrage that Hirsch has been cast in such a big project after attacking her friend.
In her tweets, she wrote that "Emile Hirsch strangled my tiny female best friend until she blacked out at a party in front of dozens of witnesses at Sundance Film Festival (and was convicted) but Tarantino just cast him in a movie," before adding, "INTENSE case of rich white male privelege eh?"
In later tweets she went on to say that he has left her friend with years of PTSD, but never apologised or offered her help.
While the casting is likely locked in and probably not going to changed based on what was effectively public knowledge, Jamil's words have brought the subject to light once more - calling for us not to dismiss incidents like this so lightly.
