--- title: Tarantino Snaps Back at Question About Margot Robbie description: Margot Robbie stars as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino's new film “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” canonical: https://time.com/5594650/quentin-tarantino-margot-robbie-question/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-23T14:09:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:02.737Z og:title: Quentin Tarantino Did Not Like This Question About Why Margot Robbie Didn't Have Many Speaking Lines in His Movie og:description: She weighed in too og:url: https://time.com/5594650/quentin-tarantino-margot-robbie-question/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fecf0390997f94d/69894a5016d8840638c35242/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-quentin-tarantino-margot-robbie-cannes-panel.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie attend the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" Press Conference during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2019 in Cannes, France. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Quentin Tarantino Did Not Like This Question About Why Margot Robbie Didn't Have Many Speaking Lines in His Movie twitter:description: She weighed in too twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fecf0390997f94d/69894a5016d8840638c35242/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-quentin-tarantino-margot-robbie-cannes-panel.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Quentin Tarantino Did Not Like This Question About Why Margot Robbie Didn't Have Many Speaking Lines in His Movie > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=472ff05d-1fbe-4a0f-9ffe-4593560636d8&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2019 2:09 PM UTC  Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie attend the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" Press Conference during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2019 in Cannes, France. Quentin Tarantino and Margot Robbie attend the "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" Press Conference during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2019 in Cannes, France. Stephane Cardinale—Corbis/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2019 2:09 PM UTC [Quentin Tarantino](http://time.com/4990423/quentin-tarantino-harvey-weinstein-knew-about-allegations/)’s new film _Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood_ had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, and some members of the audience walked away with a few questions. Specifically, why didn’t actress [Margot Robbie](http://time.com/4989804/margot-robbie-tonya-harding-movie-trailer/?iid=sr-link2) have many speaking lines? The film, which revolves around Hollywood during the Manson Family era and the August 1969 murder of the actress Sharon Tate, who Robbie plays, runs 2 hours and 40 minutes. However, [according to _Vulture_](https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/on-margot-robbies-role-in-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood.html), the Oscar-winning actress “has relatively few lines of dialogue in the film… Robbie’s character is often pointedly silent in the film, even during some of her key scenes.” > [](https://twitter.com/fnayeri/status/1131279530994360322) The silence is pointed enough that [_New York Times_ reporter](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/movies/quentin-tarantino-margot-robbie.html) Farah Nayeri [took a moment](https://twitter.com/fnayeri/status/1131279530994360322) at a press conference to ask the actor and director about what “must have been a deliberate choice.” Tarantino was not having it, though. “I just reject your hypotheses,” he replied, and according to the reporter, “said no more.” [Robbie](http://time.com/4867367/cara-delevingne-margot-robbie-tattoo/) gave a more diplomatic and longer response, telling the reporter that, “I think the moments that I got onscreen gave an opportunity to honor Sharon and her lightness. I don’t think it was intended to delve deeper.” The film, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, has otherwise been well-received by critics. 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