NEWSJennifer Lawrence Claims Margot Robbie Landed Role in Quentin Tarantino's Movie After She Was Deemed 'Not Pretty Enough'
Jennifer Lawrence claimed she lost a role in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' to Margot Robbie after being deemed not 'pretty enough.'
Jan. 15 2026, Updated 2:01 p.m. ET
Jennifer Lawrence pulled back the curtain on a brutal casting moment, claiming she lost a Quentin Tarantino movie role to Margot Robbie after being deemed not "pretty enough."
During an appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Lawrence, 35, named directors she had long dreamed of working with and was asked about the possibility of starring in a Tarantino film.
Jennifer Lawrence opened up about the Quentin Tarantino role she lost to Margot Robbie.
Jennifer Lawrence Was Told She Wasn't 'Pretty Enough' to Play Sharon Tate
Jennifer Lawrence said Quentin Tarantino, 62, didn't 'want her' in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.'
"Tarantino's been chasing you, he wants you," host Josh Horowitz pushed, to which Lawrence replied blankly, "Um, I don't know about that."
Lawrence admitted she regretted turning down the role of Jennifer Jason Lee in The Hateful Eight — which was reportedly written for her — but it was a different story when it came to the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
"Well, he did [want me] and then everyone was like, 'She's not pretty enough to play Sharon Tate,' and then they didn't," the Don't Look Up star recounted, admitting she's pretty sure that story was "true."
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Jennifer Lawrence claimed she was judged for not being 'pretty enough' to portray Sharon Tate.
"Or it's that thing where I've been telling this story this way for so long that I believe it," she joked. "No, but I'm pretty sure that happened. Or, he just never was considering me for the part and the internet just went out of their way to call me ugly."
Rumors swirled in 2017 that the Hunger Games star and Barbie actress, 35, were both in the running for the role of Tate, the pregnant Hollywood actress who was murdered by the Manson family in 1969.
The film featured an A-list cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margaret Qualley, Austin Butler and Dakota Fanning.
Debra Tate Supported Margot Robbie's Casting as Sharon Tate
Debra Tate was vocal in her support of Margot Robbie's casting.
At the time, Sharon's sister, Debra Tate — who has become a prominent crime victims' rights activist following the infamous murders — was outspoken about why Lawrence wasn't the right choice to portray her sibling.
"She's not pretty enough to play Sharon," she told TMZ in 2017. "My pick would be Margot simply because of her physical beauty and even the way she carries herself is similar to Sharon."
Although it's unclear if Debra's opinion played a factor in the decision to cast the Wolf of Wall Street actress, she publicly said Margot "did such a d--- good job" of channeling her late sister.
“I feel that there are a lot of similarities between Ms. Robbie and Sharon Tate in their own rights," she told Vanity Fair in 2019. “She made me cry because she sounded just like Sharon. The tone in her voice was completely Sharon, and it just touched me so much that big tears [started falling]. The front of my shirt was wet. I actually got to see my sister again...nearly 50 years later.”
