People expect so much of an attractive person." In one interview with Look Magazine in 1967, she said, "When I was put under contract, I thought, 'Oh, how nice,' but. Speaking in an interview about the extreme degree to which old men control Hollywood, she once said, "They’re certain that to entertain the public, you just have to create a blonde star with shiny lips, rounded hips, and no brain.” In multiple interviews in the mid-'60s Tate spoke about how she had no interest in being a sex object. The real Tate was more than a sex symbol or a victim-she was an army brat turned pageant queen who freely mocked her "sexpot" persona, a woman known among her loved ones as a sensitive and compassionate person. Robbie does her level best with the dozen or so lines she’s given over almost three hours, but Tarantino’s Tate is nothing more than a silent, tragic vixen, devoid of any interiority or character arc. Tate dances seductively in her bedroom, gyrates in a crop top at a Playboy mansion party, and smiles coquettishly while watching a screening of her film at a local theater. Set in the backlots of Hollywood circa 1969, a cultural moment about to be rocked by the Tate murders, the film reduces Tate to a mute sex object and bit player within her own story. Brad Pitt appears as Cliff Booth, Rick’s longtime stunt double and gofer, who takes a breezy pleasure in pushing the envelope everywhere he goes.
In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, DiCaprio stars as Rick Dalton, a B-list actor of spaghetti Westerns and pulpy procedurals forced to reckon with his own mid-career mediocrity. The film underserves Tate, delivering a story about two fictional has-beens in which she is nothing more than a sexualized cipher. And yet, I cannot ignore the way Once Upon a Time in Hollywood portrays women, particularly its female protagonist. After its debut at Cannes in May, Esquire praised the film, comparing it to a “Shakespearian masterpiece.” In a separate article ranking all of Tarantino's movies, Esquire said it was his best in a decade. The movie also opened to mostly glowing reviews. It marks the director’s biggest box-office opening, raking in more than $40 million last weekend, as well as the summer’s first hit that isn’t a franchise or a remake. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is seen as a triumph for Tarantino.
In promotional materials for the film, Margot Robbie’s Tate is billed prominently, suggesting that even as Tarantino populated the landscape with additional characters, she would be an equal participant in her own story. When Quentin Tarantino announced his plans in 2017 to make a film that involved the Manson Family's murder of actress Sharon Tate, it promised a chance to tell the wrenching story of a complex woman whose gruesome death has gripped popular culture for decades.
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