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THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019Nathan SchroederQuentin’s shooting it from his
8-year-old point of view. You’re
looking up through the side win-
dow,” she says.
Design elements also express
character and even generate
tension. Cars, clothes and colors
speak to characters’ social status
and personalities. TV star Rick
Dalton (Leo-nardo DiCaprio)
lives in a sleek Benedict Canyon
bachelor pad that feels like a
shrine to Rick Dalton. His stunt
double and driver, Cliff Booth,
lives in a tin-can trailer behind a
Valley drive-in, near oil derricks.
In the movie’s most stressful
sequence, Cliff arrives at Spahn
Ranch, the real-life disused loca-
tion for Westerns at which he and
Rick used to make their TV show
(the production created its own
version of the ranch). He finds
the remote property occupied by
mysterious “hippies” who later
turn out to be the Manson Family.
Cliff has to all but force his way
into the owner’s house to see if
his old friend, George Spahn, is
all right. Inside, as he calls out to
no response, he cautiously makes
his way through worrisome
clutter — dirty dishes, bugs, a
mouse dying in a glue trap.
“I love the way [the camera]
crept — the way they lit. His eyes
were darting — ‘This would never
be George, to live like this,’ ” said
Ling.
“George had a wife he was
wild about. She died before him.
One of those station wagons in
front, we made to look like hers.
He never moved it so when he
looked out his front porch, he’dsee his wife’s station wagon. They
had a lovely little house.
“Now the Mansons had been
holed up there for a couple of
years and are slobs and nobody
cleans up. I love the way they
shot that because it makes you go,
‘Whoa.’ ”
Ling also worked on another
movie inspired by real events and
partially set in late-’60s Holly-
wood — Oliver Stone’s “The
Doors.” Tarantino watched it for
research, absorbing the design
infused by Ling’s own experi-
ence.
“’69 was the height of posters,
head shops,” Ling said.
"[Tarantino] wouldn’t have been a
part of that at 6 or 8. I was older
than Quentin; I was 15 or 16, so I
have more memories.”
Ling was after a particular
blacklight poster she learned was
called “Peace,” which the team
finally found on eBay. They
bought it but still needed theoriginal, and permission from the
artist, Rik Vig. When they called
him, his wife answered.
“She said, ‘It’s so strange
you’re calling; my son and I were
just trying to buy that poster on
eBay because we don’t have a
copy.’ ”
The team said they had that
copy and would gladly give it to
Vig’s family if they could use the
poster in the film. “She said, ‘My
husband would be over the moon
to hear this. Sadly, I’m sitting next
to him right now ... he’s passing.
I’m going to say in his ear, “Hon-
ey, you’re going to be in a
Quentin Tarantino movie.” ’ ”Nathan SchroederBACK IN THE DAY:
The shoot dressed
Hollywood Boulevard
storefronts to make the
street look as it did in
Tarantino’s memory.