It was a case of once bitten, twice shy for director Quentin Tarantino, who kept the script of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" in a safe to prevent leaks.
According to the film's cinematographer Robert Richardson, stars Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie were the only people who knew about the ending.
Tarantino's caution is understandable as the director had almost abandoned making "The Hateful Eight" after the film's draft leaked in 2014.
In an interview with Business Insider, Richardson, who has collaborated with Tarantino on a number of films, said even he got the full script late into the production.
"While we were in the production office, we went in a room with the ending. It was taken from a safe and they handed it to only those people who require it to be able to perform their tasks that are necessary," Richardson said.
Actor Margret Qualley recently told IndieWire that she was not allowed to read the full script though co-star Pitt told her about the ending.
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The only other person to read the entire script during production was a friend of Roman Polanski's, Tarantino had told Deadline.
The friend got to read the story as Polanski's character features in the story, which deals with two Hollywood washouts, who are neighbours to Polanski's actor-wife Sharon Tate. Tate was murdered by the Charles Manson family cult members in 1969.