The Rise Of Margot

The Australian actress talks about fame, hard work and the intense characters she has played.

- James Taylor

Margot Robbie delights in throwing herself into her performances. She once smacked Leonardo DiCaprio in the face while auditioning for The Wolf of Wall Street; she revelled in her character Harley Quinn’s wicked behaviour on the set of Suicide Squad; and she recently got caught up in a violent argument with co-star Sebastian Stan while shooting I, Tonya, a biopic about the notorious figure skater Tonya Harding. Margot became so overwrought while filming that she stormed off the set screaming at Stan who plays Tonya’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly.

“We got so carried away in filming a fight. He slammed my hand against a door and in return, I punched him in the side of the head,” Margot says. “It was such an intense argument that, for a moment, I forgot I wasn’t Tonya and he wasn’t Jeff. Sebastian came running after me and asked me where I was going, and I said I was going to the hospital. I forgot I was acting.”

I, Tonya, which premiered to rave reviews at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, recounts the events surrounding how Tonya’s husband (played by Stan) arranged to have someone break rival Nancy Kerrigan’s leg prior to the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Margot spent four months learning to skate so that she would be able to mimic as many of the complex figure skating moves as possible.

In the meantime, Margot currently appears in Goodbye Christopher Robin, the biographical drama directed by Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) about acclaimed children’s author and Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne. She plays Milne’s wife Daphne de Sélincourt who has a complicated relationship with the troubled author who struggled with post-traumatic stress after serving in the British Army during WWI.