Titled Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the film followed actor Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) and his “family”, though it gave Tate a very different ending.
As an alternate version of true events from 1960s Hollywood, the film changed many real-life events, most notably Sharon Tate’s murder, which was the film’s big twist – and as such, Tarantino didn’t want anyone to spoil it, which prompted a “spoiler war” on Wikipedia that ended up raising many questions about “spoiler culture” and plot summaries.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Was Given a Fake Ending On Wikipedia
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2019, and it was theatrically released in the US in July. Of course, Tarantino didn’t want any details from the film to leak after the premiere, as he wanted the audience to experience it by themselves, and asked for spoilers to not be shared. With that in mind, the plot summary on the film’s Wikipedia page was given a fake ending, which (surprisingly?) not many found to be funny or effective. Manson family Tex (Austin Butler), Sadie (Mikey Madison), and Katie (Madisen Beaty) going after Rick Dalton instead of Sharon Tate after Rick told them to get off his street. Booth and Dalton defend themselves and kill their attackers, with Booth being taken to the hospital and Dalton receiving an invitation to have a drink with Tate and friends at her house.
In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’s fake Wikipedia ending, Tate didn’t die either, but was given a very bizarre action scene. In it, the Manson family didn’t change their mind and went after Tate, taking her and her friends hostage, but were conveniently saved by Bruce Lee, who “had been observing the family for days and suspected them of possible violence” – and while Tate was eight months pregnant, she was revealed to be a martial arts master too, having “learned from Lee in private lessons”, and teamed up with her mentor, Dalton, and Booth to take down their attackers, which included Charles Manson. Sadly, Booth died in this weird ending. Obviously, the only ones who noticed it was a fake ending were the critics who had already watched the film, and even attempted to change it but it kept coming back, sparking a discussion with Wikipedia editors over whether Cannes attendees counted as verifiable sources, as they were the only ones who had watched the film and their claims couldn’t be verified by average Wikipedia s (nor editors, really).
Many critics even started a debate over what should and shouldn’t be included in a plot summary, as this definitely wasn’t the first time a Wikipedia page could spoil a film before it came out for the general audience to enjoy, and some felt that a full summary was essential for journalistic purposes. What could have been a funny trivia element in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’s file turned into a full discussion over spoiler culture, reliable sources, and who is responsible for the risk of spoiling a film or TV show: those who share that information or those who consume it.
