Jennifer Lawrence Met Tarantino to Discuss Playing Squeaky Fromme: ‘She Was Interested in Doing It’

Long before Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” even had a title or set up shop at Sony Pictures, news broke the filmmaker was eyeing Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence to star. Pitt would go on to be cast in the Oscar-winning role of Cliff Booth. Lawrence, however, was never cast. Once Margot Robbie joined the film as Sharon Tate, many believed that was the part Tarantino was eyeing for Lawrence. Not true. During an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, Tarantino confirmed he met with Lawrence for “Hollywood” because he wanted her to play Charles Manson cult member Squeaky Fromme. That casting never panned out, and Dakota Fanning landed the part instead.

“Early on, in the pre-production of ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,’ I flirted around with the idea of — and [by the way], I couldn’t be happier with what Dakota Fanning did, it’s one of the best performances in the movie. She’s amazing as Squeaky Fromme. She becomes [her]. But early on, I investigated the idea of Jennifer Lawrence playing Squeaky,” Tarantino said (via The Playlist). “She came down to the house to read the script cause I wasn’t letting it out. So, she came down to the house and I gave her the script and said, ‘Go in my living room or go outside by the pool and read it.'”

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Tarantino continued, “So she read it, and afterward, we talked about it a little bit. She was interested in doing it, but something didn’t work out. But she’s a very nice person, and I respect her as an actress.”

In something of a full-circle moment, Tarantino revealed that Lawrence did give him a bit of casting advice before she left their meeting together. The director said, “But she goes, ‘Can I just make a recommendation for somebody to cast?’ I go, ‘Oh yeah, sure.’ ‘You know that agent guy that talks to Rick at the beginning? Why don’t you cast Marc Maron for that? I think he would be really, really good.’ Well, I’m actually thinking Marvin Schwartz should be significantly older than Marc Maron, but I see what you mean, yeah. If I wasn’t basing it on an older fellow, sure, he could do a good part with that. She was in there pitching for you, man!”

Al Pacino landed the role of Marvin Schwartz. As for Lawrence, she’ll only have one more chance to star in a Quentin Tarantino movie as the director remains committed to retiring from being a feature filmmaker following his next directorial effort.

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