The final film performance by the late Luke Perry, prior to his death from a stroke in March of this year, was for Quentin Tarantino’s new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In the ’60s-set movie, Perry plays a real actor named Wayne Maunder, who portrayed the character Scotty Lancer on a CBS Western TV show called Lancer. Maunder and Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, a fading actor named Rick Dalton, meet on the set of the show when Dalton takes a guest-starring role.
Tarantino remembers Perry being a complete professional — and then some.
“It was really fun,” says the director. “I had a couple of different roles I could have put Luke in. Luke was like, ‘I want to be on the Western show!’ Because he’s just a really great rider and he loves doing Westerns. When we did one of his big horse scenes, Luke slides the horse to the front of the saloon and all the other riders fall in alongside him. I was like, ‘Luke, do you want us to help you out? Do you want me to put a mark on the ground?’ He was like, ‘Quentin? You could take a dime and throw it in the dirt and I will land on that dime. The take you’ll use is when everyone else gets it right.’”
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood costars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, who plays real-life actress Sharon Tate. The film’s cast also includes Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, and Dakota Fanning, among others.
Watch the trailer for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood above.
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