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thoroughly done her homework, complete with three different pitches
to her accent depending on the age of her character,” the LA-based
Australian director says. “She was so fully prepared, yet willing to
improvise and take chances, and just really fearless. On top of all
that,she has such a command of her craft that she makes it look
effortless. She could adjust on the fly, and add nuances and colours to
aperformance. We had an amazing script, but Margot’s talent
toimprovise and react to her acting partners took it to another level.”
“Margot has that rare ability to be able to play drama and humour
simultaneously. It’s a formidable combination. She is effortless with her
humour, her timing is perfect. Yet she can turn on a dime and be so
vulnerable and sympathetic. It’s so difficult to walk that tightrope: one
misstep and you lose the audience, and Margot never did.”
Robbie, who is an avid ice hockey fan but had never actually skated
before I, Tonya, trained for months, sometimes skating up to four hours
a day on the ice. When production started (while being the star in
almost every scene, “it was actually my first lead role”), Robbie had the
added task of being producer.
“Her ability to multi-task was
extremely impressive,” says
Gillespie. “She had a very
intense schedule, yet she could
step out of character at
amoment’s notice, discuss a
production issue, then get right
back to it.”
Says Kerr: “It has come so
instinctively to her, I often
question if she is a better
producer or actress. On I, Tonya
she was skating off the ice and
in between takes talking about the music budget or comparing prices of
upcoming locations. She’d then skate back onto the ice again and she
was back in character as Tonya Harding. The only thing that has
changed is her workload and she’s handling it all like a boss.”
Rather pertinently, we meet while Hollywood is in the grip of the
Harvey Weinstein scandal, with daily accusations being revealed, as
more women find strength to speak out and take a stand against sexual
harassment. The week before, Robbie had given an inspiring speech at
a Women in Film awards night in the form of a “letter to Hollywood” in
which she addressed how women “have to fight through degrading
situations and will be offered chauvinistic roles by men who think that
that’s all anybody wants to see us play. We are all just women, all facing
the inequalities that being a women brings with it. And ... though we
are unique and powerful as individuals, we are invincible when we
come together,” she said in her speech.
Back on the couch in Albuquerque, when I bring up the speech,
Robbie’s smile turns defiant: “To me, when I think of women, I think the
word that sums up women so well but isn’t used as often as it should be
is ‘resilient’,” she says. “Women are so resilient and I think the response
to the whole Weinstein situation kind of proved that. Because it’s
astounding how quickly everyone pivoted from being heartbroken
about the news to, how do we move forward? How can we move
forward? What good can come out of this? Everyone was so supportive
immediately and then automatically looking to the future, which made
me even more proud to be a woman.
“Like at the awards the other night, [producer] Kathleen Kennedy
was speaking about starting a fund so that there can be a support
network if you’re ever put in a situation like this and there’s money
behind it and there’s the resources, and there’s the people to turn to and
there’s a solution. It’s not just like: ‘Let’s talk about it,’ it’s like: ‘What’s
the actual solution?’ and everyone on that night was like: ‘I would
firmly stand behind this.’ I think there’s also the fact that everyone kept
coming forward, so I think that proves there’s going to be positive
change out of it. People have come forward before and people will keep
coming forward in the future, I hope. And if they’re not comfortable to
do that, then let’s make it even easier to do. Let’s set up a fund, let’s set
up some kind of support network system that works and people have
aplace to turn to. I think that would be the ideal.”
I ask if she considers herself a feminist, and she does not hesitate in
her response. “I do, I do. But a couple of years ago I was almost scared
to say I was because it had so many negative connotations, like: ‘If
you’re a feminist, you hate men.’ I’ve been listening to a lot of TED Talks
lately on new-wave feminism and it’s not about hating men, and men
can be feminists too. My favourite definition of a feminist is ‘any person
who believes in gender equality in a social, emotional, financial respect’,
and that means Tom’s a feminist, I’m a feminist.”
She adds that she plans to harness her celebrity into being a role
model for young girls, and wants to visit schoolgirls on her next trip to
Australia. “I just want to say to young people that [success] is not as far
away as it seems. I didn’t know anyone in the industry; it can totally
happen,” she says. “I would like to do something like that to say
something to the younger generation. To say: ‘You do have to work
really hard, you have to work really, really, really hard, but if you want
it badly enough, you can totally make it happen.’”
The light begins to fade as the sun sets on the mountains behind the
property, changing from yellow to orange to red before fading to black. It
is a stunning backdrop as Robbie discusses her passion for movies, which
began as a kid on the Gold Coast, when she would sit on the steps of the
cinema at Pacific Fair and watch movie trailers on repeat, enticed by the
romanticism of the smell of popcorn and patterned cinema carpet.
“I still get that thrill; I guess it’s like escapism at its finest,” she says
with a grin, her eyes literally twinkling. “On the acting side, my
favourite thing is when I truly lose myself in a scene, when I forget that
I’m on a set. It’s only truly happened a few times in my whole career,
where I’ve genuinely forgotten I was on a set, forgotten that I’m not that
character, forgot that it wasn’t that time, or that place. That’s the best
feeling in the world. Better than skydiving; it’s like the most exhilarating
thing to experience.”
I remark she suddenly looks like a child at Christmas talking about
the movies. “Oh, it’s true!” she sparkles. Being on a film set, she adds, is
“100 per cent the greatest place to be”. “I have some friends who come
visit on set and they hate it and they can’t wait to leave, but I love it.
Being on a film set is my favourite place, there’s nothing better. And
Idon’t care if I’ve got three lines in the film or if I’ve got one of the lead
roles. I don’t care at all. When you’re on a set, it’s the best thing ever.”
Asked what her favourite memory is of making a movie and she
nominates the final take of Te r min a l, the first film LuckyChap completed
as a collective, which is yet to be released.“The last take wrapped and
Iremember the crew gave the four of us the clapper board at the end,”
she says. “And when we knew that we’d just made a movie, that was
areally amazing feeling. And we did it together, which was the best
part. None of this stuff would be fun if you were doing it on your own.
I get to do it with my best friends in the world, it’s just awesome.”
Goodbye, Christopher Robin is in cinemas November 23; I, Tonya will be
released in February.“When I think of
women, I think
of the word that
sums up women
so well but isn’t
used as often
as it should
be: ‘resilient’”