---
title: Once up a Time in Hollywood
description: I finally knocked this movie off my up next list last night and it was stellar.
slug: once-upon-time-hollywood
<!--- authors:
  - name: David Windham
    title: Something Else
    url: https://davidawindham.com
    image_url: https://davidawindham.com/wp-content/themes/daw/img/opengraph_image.jpg -->
tags: [movies,people]
image: https://davidawindham.com/wp-content/themes/daw/img/opengraph_image.jpg
hide_table_of_contents: false
---

Today I learned the Brooke Shields grandfather won Wimbledon in 1931<sub>1</sub> and that it was Polly Platt, the writer of _Pretty Baby_ who introduced Matt Groening to James Brooks<sub>2</sub>. I learned these because we watched the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<sub>3</sub> last night. 

<!--truncate-->

Aside from it being an outstanding movie, it led to a bunch of discussion with my wife this morning on Charles Manson and Roman Polanski. I really appreciated the revisionist history and the humanizing of Sharon Tate in the film. Quentin Tarantino did an excellent job and I think it's his best film to date. After doing the deep dive on the events in the film, we turned our attention to Polanski and the #MeToo topics of that era of Hollywood involving Polanski, Mia Farrow, Jodie Foster, and Brooke Shields.

Brooke Shields grandmother, Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi, was from Italy and her family handled the Vatican finances. Her first acting experience was cut from _Annie Hall_. Platt had wanted Foster for _Pretty Baby_<sub>4</sub> since had already played a child prostitute in _Taxi Driver_, but cast Shields instead. Shields mother had been asked by the family to terminate the pregnancy and instead moved away to raise Brooke alone openly stating at infancy that Brooke would be in show business. 

Evidently, there is an upcoming 2 part documentary on it also titled _Pretty Baby_ which premiered recently at the Sundance Film Festival<sub>5</sub>.


---
1. Frank Shields - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Shields
2. Polly Platt - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Platt  
3. _Once Upon a Time in Hollywood_ -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Hollywood
4. _Pretty Baby_ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Baby_(1978_film)
5. _Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields_ - https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/638a193ad406b28cf1f2d067