The letter Margot Robbie wrote to Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most important directors in contemporary cinema, a dream director to many budding actors. The filmmaker is also a creature of habit, often recruiting the same reliable names to star in his tales of violence and revenge, from Samuel L. Jackson to Uma Thurman. But neither his reputation nor his roster could stop Margot Robbie from securing a role with him.
Robbie’s first years in the industry were spent on the sets of Aussie soap Neighbours, but she quickly found success with a move to the United States and a huge role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. Since then, she’s become one of the biggest names in Hollywood, taking on beloved characters like Harley Quinn and Barbie while running her own production company.
It’s safe to say that Robbie already had an impressive resume behind her when she penned a letter to Tarantino, professing her hopes of working with the cult filmmaker. “I’ve always been a huge – huge – Tarantino fan,” she confessed during a conversation with Vogue, “I love his movies. Love them.”
“I wrote him and said, ‘I adore your films, and I would love to work with you in some capacity. Or any capacity,’” she explained. At the time she sent the letter, Tarantino had just finished writing his 2019 film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. It was a script with a role that seemed perfect for Robbie: actress and victim of the Manson murders, Sharon Tate.
With an impressive filmography already to her name and a clear admiration for Tarantino’s work, the director was convinced and invited her to read the script. She was cast as Tate alongside an all-star cast featuring the likes of Brad Pitt and Al Pacino, living out her dreams of working with the Pulp Fiction director.
Her stellar performance ensured that her admiration for the director did not remain one-sided, as Tarantino has showered her with compliments since the release of his self-proclaimed best film, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. “One of the luckiest things that happened to me in the course of making the movie was to make it right now and have Margot out there,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
He went on to suggest that she was “such perfect casting that I didn’t have a second choice”. It’s certainly not an exaggeration. It’s difficult to imagine anyone else taking and embodying that role quite like Robbie did, all while revelling in the opportunity to work with Tarantino.
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