Quentin Tarantino wanted to save Sharon Tate "from her tombstone" in ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’.
The 56-year-old director revealed he wanted to untangle the late star – who was tragically murdered by members of the Manson family in 1969 while she was pregnant with Roman Polanski’s son – and her legacy from her devastating death.
Speaking to Paul Thomas Anderson on the DGA podcast, he said: "It’s not the beginning and end-all of Sharon, there’s still more to learn about her and everything, but as far as saving her from her tombstone, the movie has kind of done that, to a small degree but to a significant degree."
Tate was played by Margot Robbie in the movie, and while some viewers were disappointed that the actress wasn’t more involved in the plot, the filmmaker explained that was his intention.
He added: "She was almost supposed to represent normalcy in the [film]. She doesn’t have any plot to do, we’re just watching her live her life because that’s what was robbed from her, was living her life.
"And the fact that she’s a person consigned to history for the most part defined completely and utterly by her tragic death, and in these last four weeks people have watched Margot play this person, and they saw that she was more than that.
"And that she was a lovely person and they get a sense of her spirit and they get a sense of her life, and you actually watch her doing things that people do in a life, running errands, driving the car, just life stuff. And you even got to see the real Sharon juxtaposed into that. And now I actually think people will think about her differently than they thought before."
Quentin Tarantino says movie saves Sharon Tate ‘from her tombstone’
