Margot Robbie knew exactly when she was ready to face director Quentin Tarantino.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was 2017’s I, Tonya that convinced the former soap opera star she was a good actor, prompting her to write emails to some of her idols. Those included Tarantino, who ended up casting her in his sprawling Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Robbie made the statement recently in London, where she was the subject of a BAFTA: A Life in Pictures career retrospective, being the youngest artist in history to receive the honor.
In I, Tonya, Robbie played disgraced ice skater Tonya Harding in a dark comedy mockumentary revolving around her upbringing and the violent events that ended her career. While some criticized the film for trivializing aspects of Harding’s character and deeds, it received mainly glowing reviews for its frenetic energy and Robbie’s performance. Among other accolades, she was nominated as Best Actress for a Golden Globe Award, an Independent Spirit Award and an Academy Award. She won Best Actress at the BAFTAs (British Film Academy Awards).
In Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robbie played another real-life character, actor Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski. Tarantino had been called out for keeping Tate’s part in the film relatively small, even though she was a crucial figure in the events depicted.
Even though Robbie’s planned female-led reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean is dead in the water at Disney, the actor doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Currently, she is in talks for a prequel to the Ocean’s Eleven series and has three films in post-production. Most notably among those, she plays the titular doll in the long-gestating first live-action adaptation of the famous Barbie toy line, opposite Ryan Gosling’s Ken. Robbie is also part of the large ensemble cast of Asteroid City, a comedy-drama directed and co-written (with Roman Coppola) by Wes Anderson. She is joining Anderson regulars Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody, as well as mainstream box-office draws Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson.
Robbie’s next film in theaters will be Babylon, a period comedy-drama taking on the decadent early days of Hollywood, co-starring the likes of Brad Pritt and Tobey Maguire. Babylon opens on Dec. 23.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter