Did Jennifer Lawrence really lose ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ to Margot Robbie? Here’s what we know

Jennifer Lawrence just got real about a moment in her career that’s set the internet buzzing. The Oscar winner candidly spoke about losing out on playing Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. In her statement she clarified that she doesn’t think it came down to her acting. Lawrence said the chatter online about her looks played a big part. According to her, some people said she wasn’t “pretty enough” for the role, and that noise ended up mattering.

What Jennifer Lawrence revealed

While talking with Josh Horowitz on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, Lawrence, 35, looked back on the whole thing. She explained that Tarantino was interested in casting her as Sharon Tate. “Well, he did, and then everybody was like, ‘She’s not pretty enough to play Sharon Tate.’ And then they didn’t,” she said, half-joking, half-serious.




She admitted she’s told this story so often that maybe she’s started to believe it. Still, Lawrence stands by the idea that all the internet comments about her looks helped tip the scales. “The internet went out of its way to call me ugly,” she added.

The role that got away

For anyone who missed it, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is set in 1969 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. The film weaves real-life tragedy — the Manson Family murders — into a fictional Hollywood story, and casting Sharon Tate was a big deal. Sharon’s sister, Debra Tate, even weighed in at the time. She told TMZ that both Lawrence and Robbie were “extremely accomplished actresses,” but she preferred Robbie because she looked more like Sharon and had a similar presence. Debra put it bluntly: “She’s just, I don’t know, she’s not pretty enough to play Sharon. That’s a horrible thing to say, but I have my standards.”

After the movie came out, Debra told Vanity Fair that Robbie’s performance moved her to tears. “She made me cry because she sounded just like Sharon. The tone in her voice was completely Sharon,” she said. “The front of my shirt was wet. I actually got to see my sister again… nearly 50 years later.”

Tarantino has said in the past that he thought about casting Lawrence as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, but that didn’t work out either — the part went to another actress. Lawrence also revealed that she turned down a role in Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ back in 2015, a move she now jokes she regrets. That part went to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who ended up getting an Oscar nomination for it.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”