Quentin Tarantino has finally revealed why Margot Robbie was given fewer lines than expected while playing Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Speaking with Indiewire, the director explained that the story didn’t belong to Sharon and really belonged to Rick, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
“There was a little bit more of her; everybody lost sequences. It’s not her story, it’s Rick’s story,” he said.
“[Tate] is an angelic presence throughout the movie, she’s an angelic ghost on earth, to some degree, she’s not in the movie, she’s in our hearts.”
He added that Sharon’s sister Debra Tate, who initially spoke out against the film, ended up being included in the filmmaking process.
“I gave her a script to read early on. I went to visit her in Santa Barbara, spent a weekend with her. We talked about it. She came on set when we were doing the Bruin [Theatre in Westwood] sequence.”
This is the response Tarantino probably should have given after being asked why Robbie had so few lines at the infamous press conference in Cannes.
At the time, he tersely responded to the journo, “I reject your hypothesis.”
Thankfully, Robbie sensed the tension and jumped in, giving the answer that Tarantino should have given.
“The moments that I got onscreen gave an opportunity to honor Sharon and the lightness. The tragedy, ultimately, was the loss of innocence, and to really show those wonderful sides of her, could be adequately done without speaking. I did feel like I got a lot of time to explore the character, even without dialogue specifically.”
“Rarely do I get an opportunity to spend so much time on my own as a character, going through a day-to-day existence. I actually really appreciated the exercise and felt that I could deliver what I wanted to onscreen.”
Quentin Tarantino snapped at a female reporter from The New York Times who asked why Margot Robbie wasn’t given more to say or do in his latest film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" https://t.co/xACQXjyBu8 pic.twitter.com/5GraEtaSyw
— Variety (@Variety) May 22, 2019
The film received a standing ovation and glowing reviews with many saying it’s Tarantino’s best movie since Pulp Fiction. It’s due for release on July 26.