Bruce Dern Takes Over Burt Reynolds’ Role In ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Burt Reynolds' death earlier this month left behind a massive legacy, spanning decades of cinema. But he also died before shooting his role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Reynolds would have played George Spahn, owner of the ranch that Charles Manson and his followers used as a base of activities leading up to their famous 1969 murders.

That role has now been (re)filled: Deadline reports that Bruce Dern will step into the Spahn role. It's not quite a 1:1 swap - no casting change ever is - but Dern was a fellow mainstay of '70s cinema, appearing in films like Silent Running, The King of Marvin Gardens, Coming Home, and The Driver, and (in 1968) Richard Rush's hippies-and-drugs film Psych-Out. Dern, however, managed to strike it luckier than Reynolds in his late career, scoring a deserved Oscar nod for Alexander Payne's Nebraska. Hell, he's got half a dozen projects currently in post-production. Dude works.

Notably, Dern also delivered a memorable performance in Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, which in addition to the sheer size of Hollywood's cast, makes it kind of a shock he wasn't in the movie already. Tarantino's known for repeatedly casting the character actors he's fond of, and Dern fits into that rogues' gallery perfectly.

Dern's pre-existing shooting schedule has been shifted around to accommodate the Hollywood shoot so the film can make its release date. That date is July 26th, 2019. Thus concludes this post.