Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is a masterpiece starring Hollywood legends like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. In the movie, Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate, the neighbor of Rick Dalton. In real life, Tate was a model and actress who appeared in shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, The Man From UNCLE, and even Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers.
She got married to Polanski in 1968, but tragically, she was murdered on 8 August 1969 — by Manson’s gang when she was eight months pregnant. No doubt, Robbie did an amazing job portraying Tate’s character. Even Tate’s sister Debra gave her a thumbs-up, saying she “did an outstanding job.”
But here’s a tidbit that comes with one of Robbie’s scenes from the film — when Director Quentin Tarantino wanted her to have dirty feet.
Quentin Tarantino Requested Margot Robbie to Keep Dirty Feet in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
In a conversation with Vogue’s Life in Looks series, the Barbie actress talked about her character’s grubby feet in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. According to Margot Robbie, those dirty feet were actually an unexpected accident. She recalled:
“My character walks into a movie theater to see herself on the big screen, and she kind of kicks off her go-go boots and puts her feet up and settles in to watch the movie.”
Well, Robbie’s feet got dirty because she was casually walking around the set without her shoes on. She continued:
“They stayed dirty in the movie because Quentin [Tarantino] said, ‘Don’t. Don’t clean them.’”
The star added that if someone ran in to clean her feet, the director stopped them, saying:
“No, it’s real. Keep it.”
Tarantino has this super famous thing for women’s feet, which has sparked extensive discussions over the years. And the Quentin Tarantino foot fetish is one of the most well-known “secrets” in Hollywood.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood Features an Astonishing 36 Foot Shots
So, you might be wondering why Quentin Tarantino has this thing for filming feet — well, in 2021, the director talked about his curious feet fascination. He told GQ:
“I don’t take it seriously.”
The director continued:
“There are a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies. That’s just good direction.”
He pointed out that other big-name directors, like Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sofia Coppola, have also been accused of foot fetishism. But Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, he really took the whole foot fetish thing to a whole new level.
While Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill 1 and 2 have the most well-known examples of the Quentin Tarantino foot fetish, movies like Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight also have shots of feet.
But Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood had a lot of these shots — mostly from Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Pussycat (Margaret Qualley). The movie reportedly features an astonishing 36 shots of feet with and without shoes.
Watch Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood on Prime Video.
Source: Vogue’s Life in Looks series, GQ
