Oscar nominee Margot Robbie is arguably the third biggest star in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, after Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, but she plays a fairly small role in the 1960s-set film. Which is weird, because so much of the marketing has been centered around the I, Tonya actress playing Sharon Tate. But according to Vulture, “Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate has relatively few lines of dialogue in the film… Robbie’s character is often pointedly silent in the film, even during some of her key scenes.” When asked by the New York Times about her limited role at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, writer and director Quentin Tarantino “snapped” at the reporter, according to Variety:
“I reject your hypothesis,” he said at a press conference for his new film on Wednesday morning… At the press conference, Tarantino scowled — looking visibly upset — at the question as Robbie tried to tactfully answer it.
“I think the moments I was on screen gave a moment to honor Sharon,” Robbie said. “I think the tragedy was the loss of innocence. To show the wonderful sides of her could be done without speaking. I did feel like I got a lot of time to explore the character without dialogue, which is an interesting thing. Rarely do I get an opportunity to spend so much time on my own as a character.” That’s a very diplomatic answer from Robbie — then again, she worked with Jared Leto during his “live rat” days, so everything seems peachy compared to that.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood opens on July 26.
