EXCLUSIVE: Word has gotten out that Quentin Tarantino’s next film will be a drama revolving around the Manson Family murders. Deadline has heard that Tarantino met with Margot Robbie to potentially play Sharon Tate, the actress wife of director Roman Polanski who was slain in 1969 in a brutal murder whose savagery shocked the country.

I’ve also heard that Samuel L. Jackson likely also will play a lead in the film, not a surprise since he is to Tarantino what Clarence Clemons was to Bruce Springsteen. A report in THR posited Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds star Brad Pitt (and Deadline hears he’s being courted to play the detective investigating the murder) as well as possibly Jennifer Lawrence.

Clearly word of this has gotten out before Tarantino was ready, but every project by the writer-director is major news. No one is confirming anything at this point, and I don’t think any roles have been promised yet. Robbie will reprise in Suicide Squad 2, which now is courting Jaume Collet-Serra to direct at Warner Bros, and she starred in and produced I, Tonya, playing disgraced Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding.

Nobody has read the new script, so all this is a bit liquid at the moment. I just hope Tarantino watermarks the scripts this time before showing them to his potential cast! Stay tuned. The film will shoot next summer.