There Are 3 Upcoming Sharon Tate Films—Here’s Everything You Need to Know
The appetite for prestige true crime appears to be insatiable: Margot Robbie’s transformation into Sharon Tate for her role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is just one movie based on the life of the late actress. There are actually three upcoming Sharon Tate–inspired films on the horizon. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the so-called Manson Family Murders, in which followers of cult leader Charles Manson killed the 26-year-old Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski at the time, along with four others who were in the couple’s Hollywood home.
Each project features a different actress playing Tate: There’s Robbie, who has been particularly chameleonic recently (she’ll also become Queen Elizabeth I later this year); Kate Bosworth, who is working closely with the Tate family on a film directed by her husband, Michael Polish; and, finally, Hilary Duff, who is also starring in a movie about the gruesome crime. (Tangentially there’s also Suki Waterhouse, who will play Manson disciple Mary Brunner, sentenced for chargers related to another murder, in Charlie Says, opposite Matt Smith.) We’ve gotten a few glimpses of what each woman will look like as Tate, but there are a few key aspects in which the films diverge. Here’s everything you need to know:
Margot Robbie in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Robbie most recently shared the first look of herself in costume as Tate on the set of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino’s movie centers not around Tate but around an actor and his stunt double, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, who are trying to achieve fame (and are Tate’s neighbors) around the time of the murders in 1969. Damian Lewis, Luke Perry, Burt Reynolds, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, and Dakota Fanning also appear; the film is slated for next July. (The release was originally scheduled for August 9, the 50th anniversary of the event, but it was moved up by two weeks.) Tate’s sister Debra, who claims that the director did not reach out to the family ahead of filming, at first* expressed disapproval: “I think it’s terribly irresponsible,” she told People regarding Tarantino’s film. “Especially since I own Sharon’s licensing so that I can help protect the way she’s viewed through the public’s eyes. . . . These people are taking horrific situations and making them even more graphic than they were without any concern for the living victims of these crimes and I think that’s horrible and crass.” But Tate's opinion seems to have changes after meeting with Tarantino; on August 3, she tweeted that she was "grateful to Quentin For letting me read the script, and sitting down with me to explain his vision." She followed up that she is "proud to fully support his film."
Hilary Duff in The Haunting of Sharon Tate
Duff’s film is written and directed by Daniel Farrands, who previously made The Amityville Murders and The Haunting in Connecticut—it’s likely that The Haunting of Sharon Tate will fall into the horror/thriller category, though Duff called it an “independent movie” in her Instagram post. It still has a 2018 release listed on IMDb, though the specifics are unknown. Lydia Hearst and Jonathan Bennett costar (he was also in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 with Duff). Debra Tate has similarly disapproving things to say about Duff’s project as she did Tarantino’s: “It doesn’t matter who it is acting in it, it's just tasteless. . . . It’s classless how everyone is rushing to release something for the 50th anniversary of this horrific event.” The Haunting reportedly shows Tate dreaming of her own murder in the months leading up to the deadly event.
Kate Bosworth in Tate
Bosworth and her husband Polish will produce their movie in conjunction with Debra Tate, vowing not to “violate her or exploit her [Sharon Tate’s] death,” according to Bosworth. Tate doesn’t have a release date yet, but Polish wrote on Instagram that he is “not interested in portraying violence on-screen.” Supporting cast is so far also unknown, but Debra has said that she approves of the film because it follows the last day in her sister’s life rather than her death: “They’re telling her story as a woman aside from the murders. Kate is going to capture Sharon’s heart, feeling, and attitude.”
*This article has been updated to reflect Debra Tate's tweets in support of Once Upon Time in Hollywood.
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