I have no memory of this happening, but I’m sure I heard about it at the time? So, back in 2017, Quentin Tarantino was casting for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino famously has a great eye for casting, and he was trying to find his “Sharon Tate.” The casting allegedly came down between Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie. Margot got the job, although as it turned out, Sharon Tate was not some major role/character in the film. Well, why didn’t Tarantino choose J-Law for Tate? According to Jen, it’s because Tarantino was convinced that Jennifer wasn’t “pretty enough” for the role.
Jennifer Lawrence claimed she lost out on the role of Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood because of criticism of her looks. Back in 2017, fans were agog at the news that Quentin Tarantino was making a movie involving the Manson murders, and rumors started flying that he was trying to choose between Lawrence and Margot Robbie to play Tate.
Tate’s sister Debra broke her silence on the matter, flatly declaring Lawrence was ‘not pretty enough’ for the part and that she would prefer Robbie. Tarantino eventually did select Robbie, amid a cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margaret Qualley, Dakota Fanning and Austin Butler.
Now Lawrence, 35, has shared her own memory of how the situation unfolded, saying Tarantino ‘did’ want her for the part ‘and then everybody was like: “She’s not pretty enough to play Sharon Tate,”‘ during a recent event for 92NY.
‘That’s not true,’ said interviewer Josh Horowitz, to which Lawrence replied: ‘I’m pretty sure it is true, or it’s that thing where I’ve been telling that story this way for so long that I believe it, but I’m pretty sure that happened.’
The Hunger Games actress added: ‘Or he just never was considering me for the part and the internet just went out of their way to call me ugly.’
Back in 2017, when speculation was rife that Lawrence was up for the role of Tate in Tarantino’s film, Debra went viral for pouring cold water on the idea. ‘She’s not pretty enough to play Sharon,’ Debra famously pronounced in an interview with TMZ. ‘My pick would be Margot simply because of her physical beauty and even the way she carries herself is similar to Sharon.’
It’s true that Margot looks more like Sharon Tate, and it’s also true that at that moment of both Margot and Jennifer’s careers, Margot was a better fit for a supporting role in a Tarantino movie. Jennifer would have been more of a distraction, because she was SO ubiquitous at that time. It didn’t have anything to do with Jennifer not being “pretty enough” – Jen is beautiful, but yeah, Margot looked more like Sharon Tate. Still, it was rude as hell for Sharon Tate’s sister to say that about Jen, and I don’t blame Jen for nursing that insult and believing it was the reason why she didn’t get the part.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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