Quentin Tarantino Wanted Jennifer Lawrence For A Small But Key Role In ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starred multiple Oscar-winning and -nominated performers, including Leonardo DiCaprio (six nominations, one win), Brad Pitt (five nominations, one win for Hollywood), Margot Robbie (two nominations), and Al Pacino (nine nominations, one win). But Quentin Tarantino wanted one more for the ensemble.

While speaking with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast, Tarantino revealed that he circled Jennifer Lawrence (four nominations, one win) to play Manson family member Squeaky Fromme in the 2019 film. “Early on, in the pre-production of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I flirted around with the idea of — and [by the way], I couldn’t be happier with what Dakota Fanning did, it’s one of the best performances in the movie, she’s amazing as Squeaky Fromme, she becomes [her]. But early on, I investigated the idea of Jennifer Lawrence playing Squeaky, so she came down to the house to read the script cause I wasn’t letting it out,” he said (via the Playlist). “So, she came down to the house, OK, I gave her the script, go in my living room or go outside by the pool and read it.”

Tarantino explained that Lawrence read the script and was interested in taking the role, but “something didn’t work out.” (If Dakota Fanning is the backup option for your movie, you’re doing fine.) She did offer a suggestion, though. “Can I just make a recommendation for somebody to cast?” the mother! star asked Tarantino. “You know that agent guy that talks to Rick at the beginning? Why don’t you cast Marc Maron for that? I think he would be really, really good.” Maron is going invite Pacino, who played “that agent guy,” onto WTF and spend three hours grilling him about this, and only this.

You can listen to the entire WTF episode below.

(Via the Playlist)