Margot Robbie felt ‘closely connected’ to Sharon Tate by wearing her jewellery in new film

‘It was sometimes very sad to be that closely connected with real life Sharon’

Margot Robbie has opened up about how it felt to wear several pieces of Sharon Tate’s jewellery while playing the late actor in new Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Set in 1969 Los Angeles, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sees Leonardo DiCaprio play fictional actor Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, Cliff Booth, as the pair attempt to navigate the altering Hollywood film industry.

The comedy-drama also depicts several famous faces of the era, including actor Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis), serial killer Charles Manson (Damien Herriman) and actor Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).

In the 1960s, Tate and four of her friends were murdered by the Manson Family at her home. She was eight-and-a-half-months pregnant with the child of her husband, director Roman Polanski.

During an interview with the Today programme, Robbie discussed what it was like to play Tate, explaining that she wore several pieces of the late actor’s personal jewellery to immerse herself into the role.

“It was sometimes very sad to be that closely connected with real life Sharon,” the Oscar nominee said.

“Suddenly the tragedy of all would hit you and you’d be tremendously sad but other times she made me feel so happy.”

Robbie’s comments comes days after the film’s costume designer Arianne Phillips told The Hollywood Reporter that Tate’s sister, Debra, consulted on the film and arranged the loan of her jewellery before it was set to be sold at auction.

“It felt like a talisman for myself, Margot and Quentin,” Phillips said of the jewellery, which was added to custom-made and vintage items of clothing for the actor from designers such as Rudi Gernreich and Ossie Clark.

According to Phillips, the yellow hot pants outfit Robbie wears in the film is also an original pair that Sharon Tate was known to have worn.

Earlier this year, Robbie revealed she received the blessing of Tate’s family to play the late actor.

Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, director Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie attend the photo call for Columbia Pictures' "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on July 11, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, director Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie attend the photo call for Columbia Pictures’ “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on July 11, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)ay the late actor.

“They all said how kind, loving, and good-hearted she was,” Robbie told People magazine. “I was fortunate enough to step on to set with Debra Tate’s blessing, Sharon’s sister.”

Her comments came amid *criticism of* Tarantino’s response to a question about Robbie’s limited lines in the new film.

“Quentin, you have put Margot Robbie, a very talented actress, actor, in your film,” a reporter at a Cannes press conference quizzed the director in May.

“She was with Leonardo in Wolf of Wall Street, I, Tonya, a person with a great deal of acting talent – and yet you haven’t really given her many lines in the movie.

Disagreeing with the journalist’s suggestion that Robbie’s fewer lines was a “deliberate choice”, Tarantino replied: “Well I just reject your hypothesis.”

Robbie added that she felt she had been able to “honour Sharon” and her “lightness,” and said that the film was not “intended to delve deeper”.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is out in UK cinemas on 14 August.