Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has opened up about a painful casting rejection, claiming she was passed over for a role in a Quentin Tarantino film because she was deemed 'not pretty enough' to portray the late Hollywood star Sharon Tate.
The Lost Role in a Tarantino Classic
The revelation came during a live recording of the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast with host Josh Horowitz on Friday 16 January 2026. Lawrence, 35, was addressing suggestions that the acclaimed director had long been interested in collaborating with her.
When the conversation turned to Tarantino's 2019 film 'Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood', Lawrence confirmed she was considered for the part of Sharon Tate. The role ultimately went to Margot Robbie, who portrayed the actress murdered by the Manson Family in 1969.
'Well, he did, and then everybody was like: "She's not pretty enough to play Sharon Tate," and then they didn't,' Lawrence stated bluntly. When pressed by Horowitz on whether that account was accurate, the 'Hunger Games' star conceded she had repeated the story for so long she believed it, but stood by the core memory of the slight.
A Second Missed Tarantino Opportunity
Lawrence also confirmed another significant near-miss with the director's work. She admitted she had turned down the role of Daisy Domergue in Tarantino's 2015 Western thriller 'The Hateful Eight', a part later played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
'I turned it down, which I should not have done,' she reflected with apparent regret. Tarantino had previously commented on Lawrence's potential involvement in that project, telling Entertainment Weekly in 2015 that he was a 'huge Jennifer Lawrence fan' but that she was too busy with publicity for the 'Hunger Games' franchise at the time.
Family Opinion and Final Casting
The sentiment that Lawrence lacked the requisite beauty for the part was echoed publicly before the film's release by Sharon Tate's own sister, Debra. Speaking to TMZ, Debra Tate said she preferred Margot Robbie for her sister because of her 'physical beauty, and the way she even carries herself is similar to that of Sharon.'
She added, pointedly, that she felt Lawrence was 'not pretty enough to play Sharon. That's a horrible thing to say but, you know, I have my standards.' Tarantino himself later revealed in a 2021 podcast appearance that he had investigated the idea of Jennifer Lawrence playing 'Squeaky', one of Charles Manson's followers, in the same film. That role was eventually taken by Dakota Fanning.
The episode highlights the often brutal and subjective nature of Hollywood casting, where even A-list stars of Lawrence's calibre can face rejection based on perceived physical attributes rather than acting prowess.
