Quentin Tarantino‘s ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is a bit of an enigma. It feels like we know so much about the 1960s period piece, like the fact that half of actual Hollywood wanted in on it, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are playing an old Western actor and his stunt double, Margot Robbie is Sharon Tate, and the whole thing somehow revolves around the Manson Family murders. But we don’t actually know too much about the film’s plot, or how that insanely large cast all ties together.

In an interview for the upcoming True Detective season 3, Collider’s Christina Radish also got some details from Scoot McNairy—who plays the incredibly named Business Bob Gilbert in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—on how Tarantino, a noted old-school cinephile, is shooting his Golden Age epic.

McNAIRY: All of Quentin’s movies, I feel, are so different, in so many ways, but they’re all so great because they’re done by such a great filmmaker. I think this one definitely stands alone, within his expertise of making movies. Honestly, the experience on set was so great and so fascinating to me that what I got most out of it was the time that I was able to spend there, working with all them, and working with this tight knit crew. It was just great. I wish all movies were made the way that Quentin makes them. There’s a certain spirit on set, where everybody there wants to be there, and is excited to be there, and they love what they’re doing, and they’re excited about the project. That’s just really contagious. Also, his process and the way that he does it, I’ve never been on a set like that in my life. It feels like you’re making movies from the 1930’s. It the organic, raw, way of making films, where everything is in camera. He doesn’t even have a monitor. He just stares at you, next to the camera. It’s fascinating.

The actor also confirmed that he’s portraying a bit of a meta role, playing an actor on the TV show within the movie alongside DiCaprio and Pitt.

McNAIRY: [Once Upon a Time in Hollywood] was probably one of the greatest experiences of my career. Just to watch Quentin be on set and be Quentin, and hold court, was one of the most fascinating things I have probably ever experienced in the movie business. It was an amazing, awesome experience. I would give anything to do it again. I really loved just listening to the guy be an encyclopedia on set. It’s incredible, the amount of information that guy stores in his head. But, it was great. I play a character that’s within a TV show in the movie. It’s confusing. I know I’m not supposed to speak too much about it, but I can say that I play a character on a TV show, within the movie. – And that TV also includes the characters that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt play, right?



McNAIRY: Yes. They are involved with that part of the movie, or part of the show in the movie.

Be on the lookout for Christina’s full interview with McNairy on Collider next week. For more on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, check out the links below: