Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is another epic movie from Quentin Tarantino, but not everything he shot made the final cut, including a fairly secretive performance from Tim Roth. The movie is a love letter to Hollywood as well as a revision of history, as it allows the real-life murdered figures Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring to wind up living happily ever after instead. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood primarily follows a washed-up actor and his stuntman, and they ultimately murder the of the Manson Family who, in reality, killed Tate and Sebring during a notorious massacre in 1969.
The movie blends outrageous fictional characters with real-life movie stars, more of which can be seen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's deleted scenes. Unfortunately, those scenes don't reveal any of the characters completely cut from the movie. Tarantino shot a lot more footage with other famous actors, including Tim Roth, who revealed that he shot quite a lot of footage for his role. The character even had his own arc, but any evidence that he was part of the story was completely erased from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Tim Roth Played Jay Sebring’s British Butler
In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tim Roth would have appeared as a character connected to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), as he was cast as the latter's British butler, Raymond. Given that he is so closely tied to Jay, who has tons of screen time in the movie, Raymond's sequences must have been heavily edited to clear any trace of the butler's existence. As Quentin Tarantino and Tim Roth have worked together on several movies, including Pulp Fiction, Raymond could have been tailor-made for the quintessentially British actor. And it's a shame that the character has been totally wiped from existence.
The Jay Sebring character is based on the real-life hair stylist who was indeed Sharon Tate's close friend and murdered alongside her by of the Manson Family. However, it isn't clear if the British butler was a real person or not, as there is no evidence of Sebring ever having such a servant. It sounds like a quirk that Tarantino added, but given how much of the outrageous Hollywood antics in the movie are actually true, it wouldn't be surprising if the character was based on a real person. Ultimately while lots of actors play real-life people in OUATIH, it is unknown if Raymond also fits into this category.
Why Tim Roth’s Role Was Cut
There's a simple reason why Tim Roth's "strand" was cut from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and it all comes down to the movie's runtime. Quentin Tarantino stated the character was removed from the movie after the rough cut approached five hours. While that makes sense given that the finished movie is already 161 minutes, Tarantino has made longer movies in the past; The Hateful Eight, which also stars Roth, was over three hours long with its intermission. Fortunately for Roth, as he and Tarantino are longtime collaborators, the filmmaker did show him his scenes in a special private screening of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (via Uproxx).
