In this column written for the Herald, I consider the tantalizing prospect of a Quentin Tarantino take on the Manson murders. Then I articulate the whip reaction snap that such a notion implies.

Any new project from Quentin Tarantino is big news, but the recent revelation that he’s prepping a movie connected in some way to the Manson family murders seemed to take us all by surprise.

A large part of that can be attributed to the fact that Tarantino has never tackled a true story before.

The Tate-Labianca murders of 1969 continue to cast a large, dark pall over both pop culture and the entertainment industry. The grisly murders were committed at the behest of failed musician/cult leader Charles Manson, who went to jail for the crimes, where he remains to this day.

Although there were many factors in the murders, Manson was famously obsessed with celebrity, and his sloppy interactions with the music business (which were eloquently explored in the amazing podcast You Must Remember This) stoked murderous resentment within him for the people he speciously blamed for his failures.