Margaret Qualley covers the latest issue of W Magazine. It’s not really FOR anything, especially given that Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’s promo ended more than a month ago. This works as more of a traditional “getting to know the ingenue” piece, the kind of introductory cover for the latest Hollywood It Girl. Is Qualley that It Girl? She’s 24 years old and she’s been working steadily for several years already, but suddenly it does feel like everybody is talking about her now. I want to believe that it’s mostly about her performance in Fosse/Verdon! Anyway, you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
She loves wearing oversized hoodies & being completely covered-up: “I never wear anything revealing in real life. Even if it’s scorching, I don’t like to show any skin. I save that for movies.”
At first she was turned down for OUATIH, but then Tarantino asked her to audition with Brad Pitt: “I was like, yes! I was in Panama visiting my dad. It was all beach huts and no cell phone service, and my agent was frantically trying to reach me. I flew to L.A., met Quentin and Brad, and got the part!”
Tarantino loves her: “I had to lose a lot of wonderful scenes in the film,” Tarantino told me, “but I never cut or trimmed any of Margaret’s. She was the only person that I didn’t edit down.” In fact, he wrote more lines for her.
She followed Tarantino around: “Quentin said he couldn’t sleep and came in the next day with handwritten pages. We had to decipher his writing. It was so thrilling!” She followed Tarantino around with a notebook, writing down his thoughts or anything she found interesting on set. “At one point, Lena Dunham [another Manson girl in the film] asked Brad, ‘Do you ever play losers?’ And Brad said, ‘I do. But I always make them win.’ ” Qualley smiled. “Words to live by.”
Tarantino wanted furry legs, furry armpits & lots of feet: During the shoot, Qualley wasn’t bothered that Tarantino wouldn’t let the Manson girls shave their legs or their armpits, but she was dismayed by his fascination with feet. “Quentin wanted my weird-looking feet up on Brad’s fancy car’s dashboard,” she said, still cringing at the memory. “I kept trying to hide them, but he insisted.”
She wanted to be a dancer until she didn’t want it anymore: “When I was 12 or 13, I couldn’t imagine any other life than ballet. But at some point I started to hate it. All of a sudden, I fell in love with acting.”
She loved being Pussycat: It’s her role as Pussycat in Tarantino’s film that best captures her radiant-child exuberance. “I did like being that girl. I was even a little sad to shave my legs after the shoot was over.”
“Quentin wanted my weird-looking feet up on Brad’s fancy car’s dashboard. I kept trying to hide them, but he insisted.” Oh God. I mean, all in all, Tarantino’s foot fetish is pretty uneventful in the grand scheme of things. There are definitely creepier fetishes. At this point, I kind of think Tarantino enjoys having his foot fetish out there, so he can just openly hire actresses with feet he likes, and he can creepily demand more foot-shots in his films. Now I wonder if Margaret’s audition with Brad involved her taking off her shoes. What do you want to bet?
As for the rest of it… it’s all very brand-new ingenue stuff. She’s so new to “being a celebrity” that it’s all really fun and cool to her. I don’t get the “I never show skin in real life” thing though. Is it something about being pale? Or what?
Photos courtesy of W Magazine.
I don’t think it’s because she’s fair that she covers up, but covering up does keep your skin light. I’ve tried both ways. I like not having an uneven tan and a bunch of freckles on one arm from driving (even using sunblock I will still end up with one arm darker and so many spots on it!) I only started covering up at my bfs request (modesty related) but i really enjoy this side effect. Just my feet are dark though lol
Covering up because your boyfriend wants you more modest? That a huge red flag
Usually comes from men who project their predatory ways in other men. Warning sign is blaring.
I’m in my ’50’s now but I only would have covered up if I wanted to do, not at the urging of a boyfriend who wanted me to be “modest”. He can have an opinion but the decision is mine and if I’m comfortable with the amount of skin I show, he can naff off.
She was okay in OUATIH, nothing to write home about. I haven’t seen Fosse/Verdon so I don’t know how she was in that. I wish no ill will on her, she just isn’t that exciting to me. Good on you Andie McDowell’s daughter, be an ingenue. Yawn.
She was fine in F/V, I don’t think she necessarily deserved the nomination she got. She’s long and lean like Ann Reinking and used the same husky voice.
She was the least interesting character in The Leftovers too. Beautiful face but not much else acting wise.
I like her a lot as an actor but this reminds me of just how connected in HW she is. She’s really privileged.
I like the photo of her hugging the tree but the other one does her no favors. I get what they wee going for but it’s just…not great.
These pictures are awful.
I mean…okay
If she was disappointed to shave her legs after the shoot was over, why did she? Who forced her?
That’s exactly what I thought. But I would imagine if she wants to get another good role in another big movie, she’d be expected to be as hair-free as ever.
Yup…
She says how disappointed she was when the movie was done filming so I took it as she was sorry to shave her legs because that meant the role/movie were truly over.
And the “skin” thing is clearly about ‘modesty’ not avoiding the sun. I read that as her being judgemental of people who bear ankles and shoulders in day to day life. 🙄
Isn’t she just stating a preference, though? I don’t see her saying it’s wrong not to cover up. Maybe I’m defensive because people label me a prude because I don’t wear revealing clothing, but I never say anything about women who do. 🤷🏻♀️
Nor do we call men who cover up “prudes” but women are always expected to put on a show.
I agree, this sounds like her personal preference and that’s all.
I’m not comfortable in revealing clothing either. If that makes people think I’m a prude…shrug? Why would I care what they think?
I wonder if its indictive of young women rebelling against the Kardashian influence? Kinda like Billie Elisch?
@Janedone You might be right; that’s cool!
The Kardashians don’t deserve that credit. Billie Eilish has an impressive take on this issue though. There are women 2, 3, and 4 times her age who never get to the place she’s at with this subject:
https://jezebel.com/the-conversation-about-billie-eilishs-clothing-is-exhau-1837401637
“Bear” ankles and shoulders? First it’s “bare”, second she’s not slut-shaming, it’s a personal preference. I’ve always covered up, I don’t wear low-cut, too short, too tight revealing clothing and never have. I just feel more comfortable not being leered at, I prefer being judged for my personality and brain, and I imagine she feels the same way.
I’ve been wearing long sleeves and long pants for a while now,even in warm weather ( I will go sleeveless/wear running shorts if and when I wish),but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how it feels to not always go by societal norms and just wear what I want regardless of season/weather and or fashion.I have also been pleasantly surprised that covering up in warm weather doesn’t make me feel hot or uncomfortable .Obviously it’s a personal preference,but I really think she’s talking in terms of comfort,not modesty.
Agreed. I like a mix of modest and revealing. Some of my friends feel similarly- Sometimes it’s nice to put respectability politics aside for that. Some of them dress more conservatively and that’s fine too.
Margaret is just expressing preference. Unless she starts going around using dehumanizing slurs and saying misogynistic, pathologizing crap about other women for wearing revealing clothes, there’s no reason not to give her the benefit of the doubt. Plenty of women are strong enough to coexist more than peacefully despite making different choices about modesty. 😁
And yet…in a recent article in Celebitchy, she’s seen walking down a NYC street with Pete Davidson (is that his name?) wearing a slip dress with spaghetti straps. So the ‘always covered’ even if it’s a scorcher outside must be a fluctuating feeling. Which is fine. Everybody changes.
Diane Keaton likes to cover up head to toe too. It’s just some people’s preference.
How is this judgemental? That’s quite the reach…
Another example of Hollywood nepotism. She’s pretty, tall and thin, lucky her. But she is completely wooden as an actor.
She’s be a better model.
Thanks mom!!
Gawd Andie McD is so notoriously wooden as well, however stunning on film. That said, I didn’t find the daughter wooden when I was watching OUATIH, and had no idea who she was. Poor Andie.
Most beneficiaries of Hollywood nepotism can’t do what she did in that Kenzo commercial (Google it).
I love her dancing in that video! She’s very talented
Oh damn.
Yeah, that was great.
It definitely is an interesting commercial . Wasn’t she trained in dance ? I’ll give her an A+ for creativity and exhibitionism . Acting, no
But she’s wearing a dress with straps and bare shoulders in the Venice pics of her and Pete? It’s a nice sundress.
It was scorching hot in Venice then. Even people who like to cover up would have found it unbearable.
But that’s exactly what she said: “Even if it’s scorching, I don’t like to show any skin. I save that for movies.”
I loved her in “The Leftovers”.
Liked her in The Leftovers, The Nice Guys, and Fosse/Verdon, and her dancing in the Kenzo commercial. Her dance training is lovely to watch in use.
Really loved her in the Leftovers.She was surprisingly good IMO,actually the whole series was good-we binge watched it last spring thanks to me hearing great reviews about it from commenters here,actually.I like her,I think she’s got more talent than most of the nepotism stars/models.
Those W photos are terrible, unless the goal was to make a pretty girl look creepy.
I found her character in OUATIH to be kind of one dimensional and annoying, but that’s how it was written, like most Tarantino characters.
Yeah, I think they did her a disservice by covering up all that lovely hair.
Am I the only one who finds the term “modest fashion” a little disturbing? It has a religious undertone and makes me think of mom Duggar going like “God does not like that miniskirt.”
What I have worn has never ever stopped men groping or catcalling. I have worn the ugliest cargo pants and sweater and still got harassed.
Just today there was an article how women are now “allowed” to wear less in Saudi Arabia. They still (cough) “recommend” you dress decently.
If my husband or boyfriend suggested I dress more modest I’d immediately wear a bikini all over the town, just to make a point. And then I’d kick him out.
No—you’re not the only one. Because it is not exactly a huge jump to go from deeming a woman’s clothing to be immodest to considering her immoral and therefore to blame for any unwanted attention.
There’s definitely a victim-blaming problem. Culturally we’re expected and sometimes even coerced into turning a blind eye to how ‘sexually immoral’ or immodest women and girls are treated, even when we’re women too.
Modesty is fine- it’s the manipulation, coercion, and different forms of abuse (whether it involves intentionally inflicting bodily harm or the psychological and emotional abuse that put girls and women at risk for and desensitizes people to bodily harm) in any place that’s the problem.
‘What I have worn has never ever stopped men groping or catcalling. I have worn the ugliest cargo pants and sweater and still got harassed…If my husband or boyfriend suggested I dress more modest I’d immediately wear a bikini all over the town, just to make a point. And then I’d kick him out.” Awesome! 💖 F anyone on either side who would say or imply that mistreatment you received (be it assault or slut-shaming) would be your fault because you’re ‘putting yourself out there’, as if modesty or being a lady is the currency women should pay to not be abused or to have the right to criticize how they are treated and people aren’t responsible for their treatment of others.
Agree! My choice of clothing has never stopped a man, I wish!
I’m sorry but she sounds dumb.
She was great in that Kenzo World music video
I took her comments to mean that she’s not using nudity / semi nudity to promote herself, but she will go bare for a role, which sounds reasonable to me.
Like, perhaps she’s not doing lingerie or bikini shots for media, although she may be fine to wear whatever more skin baring clothing on her private life when it’s appropriate, like on hot days or if she’s actually swimming.