Quentin Tarantino Had A Specific Demand For Margot Robbie’s Feet
Margot Robbie's feet were dirty in the movie theater scene from Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood because Quentin Tarantino refused to let her clean them for the shot.
Director Quentin Tarantino wanted Margot Robbie to have dirty feet in a specific scene in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. The Australian native shared the anecdote in an episode of Vogue’s Life in Looks series. Discussing some of the most famous looks, the Barbie actress said her grubby feet were an unplanned accident.
“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,” Margot Robbie recalled. However, her feet were dirty because she’d been walking around the set without her shoes. “They stayed dirty in the movie because Quentin [Tarantino] said, ‘Don’t. Don’t clean them.’”
She added that if someone ran in to clean her feet, Quentin Tarantino stopped them, saying, “No, it’s real. Keep it.” The prominence of women’s feet in the filmmaker’s movies has sparked extensive discussions over the years. Many have wondered why he holds such a fascination for capturing feet on film. In 2021, Tarantino responded to the scrutiny, stating that he is not the only director to do so.
“I don’t take it seriously, Quentin Tarantino said via Insider. “There are a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies. That’s just good direction.” He mentioned other filmmakers of note who have also been questioned for focusing on feet, such as Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sofia Coppola. However, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes film foot fetishes to the next level.
The Quentin Tarantino movie features an astonishing 36 shots of feet with and without shoes. The story follows Rick Dalton, a once-successful actor whose fame is slowly diminishing. With the help of his stunt double, Cliff Booth, they try to earn success and fame in the last years of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Along with Margot Robbie, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Kurt Russell.
With his tenth film, The Movie Critic, currently in development, it will be interesting to see how many foot shots Quentin Tarantino will incorporate into the story. The upcoming movie is reported as the director’s final project. Working from a script that he wrote, the story is said to take place in late 1970s, Los Angeles, with a female character at its core.
The film could be inspired by Pauline Kael, widely recognized as one of the most influential movie critics in history. Kael, who died in 2001, was also known for her encompassing prowess as an essayist and novelist. Famous for her spirited clashes with editors and filmmakers, Kael’s indomitable spirit defined her persona.
During the late 1970s, she briefly assumed a consulting role at Paramount at the behest of actor Warren Beatty. Interestingly, this tenure aligns with the backdrop of the script, and Quentin Tarantino’s profound admiration for Kael further strengthens the likelihood of her being the central character of the upcoming film.
Meanwhile, Margot Robbie can be seen in Barbie alongside Ryan Gosling, which hits theaters on July 21. Directed by Greta Gerwig from a script she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, the story follows a less-than-perfect doll that is expelled from Barbieland. So she ventures into the real world to find true happiness.
