In a recent interview with CinemaBlend's ReelBlend podcast, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino revealed that his favorite scene from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood never made it to the silver screen. Fans of Tarantino and the movie, though, will be excited to hear that the bit of dialogue which the director reluctantly left on the cutting room floor did get squeezed into the upcoming eponymous novelization. Tarantino, of course, is the author.
The scene in question is between Rick Dalton and Trudi Fraser (played by Leonardo DeCaprio and Julia Butters, respectively) which plays out a while after meeting on the set of the movie within a movie, Lancer. At one point, the characters get into some pretty heavy emotions over the phone. Tarantino is quoted as saying that it was one of the only times he's "gotten misty-eyed" while filming a scene. He also admitted that "[Butters] was in tears every time we finished every take" and that it was "[DiCaprio's] favorite scene that he shot."
When asked in the interview why he would cut such a beloved scene, Tarantino gave two answers: time, and story continuity. As it is, the final cut of the movie ended up being 2 hours and 40 minutes long. In Tarantino's own words:
That happens a lot in movies. You drop scenes that are really terrific. But a timeline imposes itself on the cut. And if it falls outside of that timeline, then no matter how good it is, it's got to go.
But will this scene be gathering dust on the cutting room floor forever? Who knows. Director's cuts of movies sometimes get released. And with the recent success of Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League, you can bet that the trend will continue in the near future. But if you want to at least read the dialogue from the cut scene and imagine the actors playing it out in your imagination, you can purchase Tarantino's official novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood right now wherever books are sold.