Tarantino wanted Sharon Tate to be “more than just a victim” in his new film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Margot Robbie, Quentin Tarantino

With ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD set to be released in theaters this Friday, July 26, fans of director Quentin Tarantino's work are about to experience his take on Sharon Tate, the 1960s model-actress who in 1969 was a victim of the Manson Family murders. During her time in La La Land, Tate appeared in director Mark Robson's 1967 drama VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. With a promising career ahead of her after starring in Roman Polanski's THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, news of her death shocked Hollywood to its core, sending shockwaves throughout the industry as we know it.

In time, Tate's story had become so synonymous with the Manson Family murders that many had forgotten about the woman behind the crime. Thankfully, Quentin Tarantino says that Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate for ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD will frame the beloved actress as "more than just a victim."

“I did a lot of research on Sharon and became very enamored of her,” Tarantino recently told Entertainment Weekly. “She seemed like an incredibly sweet person. When you talk about all the different friends that she had, even acquaintances that she had, they all tell the same story about her, about this unaffected beauty, just this reservoir of goodness and kindness. Now, that almost sounds to good to be true, but for whatever reason, as I’m reading all this stuff, I’m really buying it. Every account about her that I found backs up that version of her. Unfortunately, she’s kind of been defined by her murder. I thought the best way to get her across was not sticking her in a bunch of scenes with Roman or with other people where she’s [furthering] a plot, but just hanging out with her, letting her drive around Los Angeles, do her errands, and just see where the day takes her. I wanted to show people a glimpse of Sharon before the murder, so they think of her as more than just a victim.”

To find out if Tarantino was true to his word, you can check out Chris Bumbray's review of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD right here.

Directed and written by Quentin Tarantino, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Maya Hawke, Austin Butler, Sydney Sweeney, Dakota Fanning, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino, Harley Quinn Smith, Kurt Russell, Luke Perry, Damon Herriman, and Margaret Qualley, among others.

In the film, a faded television actor (DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Pitt) strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD will arrive in theaters this Friday, July 26.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.