Burt Reynolds Replaced On 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Cast With Bruce Dern

Burt Reynolds was set to play George Spahn in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but the actor died early this month before he had a chance to shoot any scenes. Now, Bruce Dern, who worked with Tarantino on The Hateful Eight, will take over Reynolds' part. More on the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cast below.Deadline has the news about Dern joining the cast. Dern and Reynolds were friends for many years, so the actor stepping into Reynolds' role as George Spahn is fitting. Spahn was a nearly blind rancher who used to rent his land out to Hollywood for Westerns. In the late '60s, Charles Manson convinced Spahn to allow him and his followers to live at the ranch. In exchange for this housing arrangement, Manson had some of his female followers go to bed with Spahn, and also serve as his seeing-eye guides.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set over the summer of 1969, and focuses on a cavalcade of characters, with the Manson Family murders lurking in the background. "It takes place during the 1969 Hollywood era at the height of the counterculture explosion, at the time of the hippie revolution," Tarantino said. "During the summer, little by little, block by block, we'll be transforming Los Angeles in the psychedelic Hollywood of 1969."

Dern joins a loaded cast, which you can see below.