Quentin Tarantino to make film on Manson Family murders

Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is planning a movie based on the notorious Manson Family killings, according to US media.

The American director is discussing the project with several A-list actors, the Hollywood Reporter said, and will direct from his own script.

The weekly trade paper, citing unnamed sources, said Brad Pitt, who starred in Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), and Jennifer Lawrence have been approached.

Legendary producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who have worked with Tarantino on all his recent films, will also be involved, the publication reported.

The plan is reportedly to shoot in 2018, although no distribution deal is yet in place.

Charles Manson, who at 82 is still behind bars, was the leader of a California cult called "The Family" which murdered several people, including the pregnant Hollywood star Sharon Tate.

Lawrence and Australian actress Margot Robbie are being considered for the role of Tate, who was slain while Manson was not present, said Variety magazine.

Pitt could play Vincent Bugliosi, the lawyer who prosecuted the family.

In a bloody killing spree in August 1969, Manson and his followers killed seven people in two days.

Although he has been branded "America's icon of evil", Manson is not regarded as a serial killer, as others mostly carried out the murders he was initially sentenced to death for.

Tarantino, who dropped out of high school insisting he could learn more on his own, won best screenplay Oscars for black comedy western "Django Unchained" in 2013 and cult favourite "Pulp Fiction" in 1995.