One of the first things we ever heard about Quentin Tarantino's new film ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD was that Margot Robbie had met with the writer/director about taking on the role of real life actress Sharon Tate (pictured above), who was pregnant with the child of ROSEMARY'S BABY director Roman Polanski when she was murdered by members of the Manson Family. Almost a year after that report, Robbie officially signed on to play Tate in the film.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD has been filming for a while now, and earlier today Robbie took to her Instagram account to share the first image of herself in character as, and in the wardrobe of, Sharon Tate.
Set in 1969, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in the story of
Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), former star of a Western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor… Sharon Tate.
Also in the cast are Burt Reynolds as George Spahn, the man who owned the ranch the Manson Family lived on; Luke Perry as Wayne Maunder, co-star of a Western series called Lancer; Clifton Collins Jr. as Ernesto the Mexican Vaquero; Keith Jefferson as Land Pirate Keith; 1970s TV Spider-Man Nicholas Hammond as real life actor/director Sam Wanamaker; Damian Lewis as iconic actor Steve McQueen; Dakota Fanning as Squeaky Fromme, "the Manson disciple who later tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford"; Emile Hirsch as Jay Sebring, a "Hollywood hairstylist who was one of four victims in the Tate murders on Cielo Drive"; Al Pacino as Rick's agent Marvin Schwarz; Scott McNairy as Business Bob Gilbert, a cowboy on a Western TV show; Michael Madsen as the sheriff on a Western TV show; Spencer Garrett as Allen Kincade, "an interviewer of Hollywood's A-list"; Eddie Perez as Land Pirate Eddie; Maurice Compte as Land Pirate Mao; Mike Moh as Bruce Lee; and James Remar, Martin Kove, Brenda Vaccaro, Nichole Galicia, Zoe Bell, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Timothy Olyphant, James Marsden, Marco Rodríguez, Ramón Franco, Raul Cardona, and Julia Butters in unspecified roles.
Robbie seems to have the Tate look down, and I'm interested in seeing how exactly the story of the Manson murders are going to be blended with the story of the actor and his stunt double.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD is scheduled to be released on July 26, 2019.