Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sees several fictional characters interacting with real-life folks like Sharon Tate and Bruce Lee, but as it turns out, even those fictional characters have some basis in reality. Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth, for example, was partially based on several real-life stuntmen, including a man by the name of Gary Kent.
Tarantino loosely based Booth, in part, on Kent’s life, and wouldn’t ya know it, the real Kent actually was at one point at Spahn Ranch when the Manson Family was there!
“From what I understand, Quentin based [Cliff] on me, my friend Bud Cardos, and Hal Needham,” Kent recently told Birth.Movies.Death. As he explained to the site, Kent had lunch with Tarantino not all that long ago and told him about his experience at Spahn Ranch. “I’m anxious to see how much of that is included in the film,” Kent told the site earlier this summer.
Director Joe O’Connell’s new documentary Danger God spotlights the life and career of Gary Kent, coming to digital August 6 and DVD September 17 from Wild Eye Releasing.
“Though the king of B movies in the Sixties and Seventies, working for indie directors from Richard Rush to Ray Dennis Steckler to Al Adamson, Kent tackled even larger real-life challenges.”
“Professional stuntman Gary Kent has made a hard-earned name for himself in over 50 years of falling, burning, jumping, fighting and breaking himself for some of the most cherished independent and B-movies of the 20th Century. This is his story, from the anything goes days of the drive-in era, including his run in with Charles Manson and his infamous family, to his personal battles and triumphs with health, alcoholism and love. Features interviews with Monte Hellman, Duane Eddy, Richard Rush, Marc Singer and more.”
You can check out the Danger God trailer and poster below!
