Um, as someone who grew up wishing I was best friends with Hilary Duff in such sugary sweet, hashtag relatable roles as Lizzie McGuire or Sam in A Cinderella Story, I’m not sure I was ready to see the trailer for her latest movie. The Younger star has taken a totally different direction with her newest role, and is the star of a controversial new horror movie based on the real-life events of Sharon Tate’s murder.
With the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders in August of this year, Hollywood is firing on all cylinders, with a trio of films set to be released about Tate. Hilary takes the titular role in one of these productions, The Haunting of Sharon Tate and honestly, it’s not the Lizzie McGuire reboot that I was hoping for.
In the newly released and chilling trailer, Duff’s Tate becomes the heroine of a horror movie, having premonitions of her own death. “I guess you could say I live in a fairytale,” she says, referring to husband Roman Polanski and their luxury home. “Looking at everything through rose-colored glasses.” The film goes on to reimagine the case of the Manson murders, which saw an eight-and-a-half month pregnant Tate stabbed to death, along with four friends.
The film has had a controversial reception ever since it was first announced, with Tate’s own sister Debra telling People in February of last year: "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.”
Debra also disagrees with the notion of her sister’s premonitions, and called the project "tacky". According to Deadline, the new movie's plot stems from a quote from an interview Tate reportedly gave one year before her death, in which she discussed dreaming about being murdered.
Hilary in The Haunting of Sharon Tate will be released through 2019 alongside Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Margot Robbie, and Tate, starring Kate Bosworth.
Oh, and just in case your teen self wasn't confused enough by this whole thing, Duff also stars alongside Mean Girls’ Jonathan Bennett, a.k.a. Aaron Samuels. My brain simply can't handle this.
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