A career-altering slap, working in the tub, and falling in love... with her own character. Margot Robbie burst into the public eye with "The Wolf of Wall Street," and she's been blazing a trail through Hollywood ever since.
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00:00A career-altering slap, working in the tub, and falling in love — with her own character.
00:05Margot Robbie burst into the public eye with The Wolf of Wall Street, and she's been blazing
00:10a trail through Hollywood ever since.
00:13Auditions are often nerve-wracking for actors anyway, but it's a whole other level when
00:17you're screen-testing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in front of Martin Scorsese. For Margot Robbie,
00:22she was simply happy to know that Scorsese had seen her audition tape, let alone be invited
00:26to audition with DiCaprio. As she told Harper's Bazaar, she felt pressured to stand out in
00:31front of her idols, and as the audition was nearing its end, she made a hefty decision,
00:35revealing,
00:36"'I walk up really close to his face, and then I'm like, maybe I should kiss him. When
00:40else am I ever going to get a chance to kiss Leo DiCaprio ever?' Robbie didn't do it, but
00:44came up with something else. She slapped him instead."
00:47That, according to Scorsese, scored her the part. Moments after she left the room, just
00:52as she was starting to regret it, she was called back in and enthusiastically offered
00:56the role. Although the slap was unscripted, it certainly taught Robbie to be bolder about
01:00her on-screen acting choices. Years later, when she worked with Brad Pitt on Babylon,
01:05she convinced director Damien Chazelle to let her spontaneously kiss Pitt on screen,
01:09despite being called out by Chazelle for just wanting to kiss her co-star.
01:14As Robbie confessed to Nadine Macaluso prior to filming The Wolf of Wall Street, she was
01:18initially hesitant about the project, considering the amount of nudity that would be required
01:22of her. In fact, the actor almost had to turn the role down, both because she was locked
01:27into her contract with Pan Am, but also because she couldn't connect with the character beyond
01:31the nudity. Robbie thought that her character Naomi was just a one-dimensional gold digger.
01:35However, she found her in with Naomi by dialing into the character's rage, specifically toward
01:40DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort, in her audition, telling the Sydney Morning Herald,
01:44"'She's all s---- and vinegar. She's not taking s---- from anyone. She's wielding that power
01:48over him and bringing him to his knees. That's badass."
01:51Robbie ended up being the one arguing for doing full frontal nudity in the now-iconic nude scene,
01:56despite Scorsese offering to let her wear a robe. The way she saw it, Naomi was laying it all out
02:02for Jordan in a way that was actually quite powerful and brave. The least Robbie could do,
02:05she felt, is channel an ounce of that bravery in front of the camera.
02:10Despite The Wolf of Wall Street being Robbie's first mainstream project,
02:13she learned early on that the key to good filmmaking is collaboration.
02:17During a Q&A for The BAFTAs, Robbie dove deep into the level of input she had on
02:21The Wolf of Wall Street. This was especially integral for one scene in the film, where a
02:25fight between Naomi and Jordan leads the latter to crashing a car with his daughter inside.
02:30As Robbie explained, the scene was originally shorter, but a brainstorming session with
02:34Scorsese and DiCaprio the night before shooting completely changed it. She told Deadline,
02:39"'Our brilliant first AD, Adam Somner, was probably tearing his hair out because
02:43out of nowhere we were like, so we're gonna need to break the garage door of someone's house,
02:47break a car window, and destroy a couch.'"
02:49As Robbie had learned from her audition, Scorsese was receptive to her ideas,
02:53no matter how spontaneous or DiCaprio-endangering they were.
02:57It didn't take long for Margot Robbie to explode into the mainstream following her performance in
03:02The Wolf of Wall Street. In fact, many were surprised to learn that she was Australian,
03:06considering how pitch-perfect her Brooklyn accent was in the film. It was even named by Vanity Fair
03:10as one of the best New York accents ever heard on screen.
03:14So I presume you're Italian?
03:15On my dad's side, I'm also Dutch, German, English. I'm a mutt.
03:21Robbie's performance was praised right down to the line readings,
03:24while others rightfully predicted her rise to stardom. Even publications like The Guardian,
03:28which criticized the film's length and portrayal of Belfort,
03:32singled out Robbie as one of the film's highlights. While Robbie was snubbed for
03:35major award nods, the actor walked away with a trophy from the Empire Awards for Best Female
03:40Newcomer, and also received nominations at the MTV Movie & TV Awards and Critics' Choice Awards.
03:46Robbie told Vanity Fair that she hit a real dark patch after The Wolf of Wall Street came out,
03:51and even thought about quitting acting, confessing,
03:53"'Something was happening in those early stages and it was all pretty awful,
03:56and I remember saying to my mom, I don't think I want to do this. And she just looked at me,
04:00completely straight-faced, and was like, Darling, I think it's too late not to.'"
04:05Thankfully, Robbie followed her mom's advice and persisted. Despite feeling much more confident in
04:09her ability to handle celebrity, Robbie has still been critical over the invasions of privacy that
04:14occur, particularly in Australia, with its much more lenient laws against paparazzi.
04:19She's admitted that it can be hard at times to not be overwhelmed by the stress and pressure
04:23that comes from being in the entertainment industry, especially given how busy it can get.
04:27Thankfully, at this point, she doesn't have any regrets, least of all about The Wolf of Wall
04:32Street. The years immediately after The Wolf of Wall Street saw Margot Robbie become an in-demand
04:37actor. Her celebrity status became just as large as her characters on screen,
04:42thanks to both the attention she got from Scorsese's 2013 film,
04:45as well as her cameo appearance in the 2015 Adam McKay movie, The Big Short.
04:49Robbie was one of many celebrities who cameoed in the film, breaking the fourth wall to explain
04:53financial concepts to the audience in ways that were a little more attention-grabbing than,
04:58watching CNBC. In Robbie's case, she's featured in a bubble bath drinking champagne,
05:03as she explains subprime mortgages.
05:05"...easiest day of work I've ever done in my life."
05:07It likely didn't take much to convince Robbie to shoot the scene,
05:10but considering how quickly it came after The Wolf of Wall Street,
05:13it meant a lot for her to be declared a pop culture icon so soon.
05:18While the years following The Wolf of Wall Street were prosperous for Robbie's career,
05:21the actor felt creatively stifled by a lot of the roles she was offered,
05:25most of which were very similar to her role as Naomi. Even though Robbie was
05:29just 24 years old at the time, she wanted to create her own opportunities for stronger
05:33female roles. As Josie McNamara, her friend and fellow producing partner, told Variety,
05:38she was at a place in her career where she had the ability to set up a company,
05:42and wanted to support other female creatives and give them the platform she was getting herself.
05:46Alongside her future husband, Tom Ackerley, and friends McNamara and Sophia Kerr,
05:51Robbie founded the production company Lucky Chap Entertainment. The production company
05:55has been the main vehicle for Robbie-led movies like I, Tonya, Birds of Prey, and Barbie,
06:00as well as other notable films like Promising Young Woman and Saltburn. The company has been
06:05integral in putting more women in front of the camera while also championing roles for
06:09women behind it as directors, writers, and crew members.
06:13Similar to how she initially felt about her character in Wolf of Wall Street,
06:17Robbie felt some trepidation when she signed on to David Ayer's 2016 film Suicide Squad to
06:22play Harley Quinn. She admitted to having reservations about playing the notorious
06:26Joker accomplice, who is madly in love with the Batman villain, mostly regarding the character's
06:31depth. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Robbie expressed that she didn't connect with the
06:35role immediately, saying,
06:36"...I just didn't understand how she could be such a badass and then fall to pieces over some guy.
06:41Fans seemed to really love that about her."
06:43After some recommendations from her acting coach, however,
06:45Robbie began looking at the character through the lens of toxic, codependent relationships.
06:50From that point on, Robbie not only fell in love with Harley Quinn,
06:53but also felt an extreme amount of pressure to do her justice,
06:57given that this was the character's first live-action cinematic portrayal.
07:00It also helped that she already had experience with the Brooklyn accent that Harley is known for.
07:05What was that? I should kill everyone and escape?
07:10Sorry. The voices.
07:13As Robbie's star continued to rise throughout the 2010s,
07:17she began to feel disdain towards the way Hollywood had begun to portray her as a sex symbol.
07:22She thought that the label of Blonde Bombshell undermined her work as an actor,
07:25telling the Chicago Tribune,
07:27"...I really hate that you can do a project with some of the best filmmakers in the world,
07:31and the whole thing gets completely swept aside with one comment like,
07:34Blonde Bombshell sizzles the screen."
07:36As the entertainment industry has proven time and time again, however,
07:40the best way to overcome such a label is by making fun of it.
07:43Robbie got a chance to do that in 2016 when she hosted Saturday Night Live,
07:47which featured many sketches that allowed her to use her beauty for the purposes of humor.
07:52One example was the sketch Live Report, in which Robbie played the stunningly gorgeous
07:56wife of Mikey Day's mediocre character, which befuddled a news reporter.
08:00He's married to the Lord's mistress, and he's wearing Crocs with socks.
08:08Another sketch, The Librarian, found Robbie playing a sexy librarian,
08:12who turns out to be a lot less attractive than library patrons expected her to be.
08:16The episode certainly proved that Robbie could do much more than just be a bombshell.
08:21Margot Robbie spent a long time after Wolf of Wall Street trying to shed its reputation.
08:26As she told Wonderland magazine,
08:28"...I was acutely aware that the line in the screenplay was,
08:30The hottest blonde ever. I'm clearly not the hottest blonde ever.
08:34I was just terrified that people would see the movie and think,
08:37She's not that great."
08:38In the years after this Scorsese film,
08:40Robbie sought roles that would challenge not only her, but the audience,
08:43which led her to the biopic, I, Tonya. Portraying controversial figure skater
08:47Tonya Harding allowed Robbie to play a role that was about more than just her looks.
08:51Her preparation to play Harding involved a higher level of commitment than Robbie
08:55had undertaken in her career to that point, with months of studying figure skating and
08:59Harding's accent. Not only did Robbie walk away from I, Tonya with maybe her best performance
09:04to date, but it also made her a first-time Oscar nominee for Best Actress the following year.
09:09Robbie certainly considers herself lucky for the opportunity of getting to work with Leonardo
09:14DiCaprio, telling People magazine,
09:16"...He has always been my favorite actor, and he became this wonderful big brother.
09:19He took me under his wing and always looked out for me, which is really nice."
09:23Still, she considered working with DiCaprio a challenge because he was acting at such a
09:27level that Robbie had to elevate her game. Robbie has now had the pleasure of working
09:31with DiCaprio twice, given that they both appeared in Quentin Tarantino's
09:34Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
09:37In 2023, Robbie both produced and starred in the blockbuster hit Barbie,
09:41a film that saw her much more involved behind the scenes even before she ever
09:45stepped into the character's high heels. Robbie initially signed on to Barbie as a producer,
09:50and had no intention of playing the title role until director Greta Gerwig signed on.
09:54Even then, she didn't think she could pull it off without Gerwig's encouragement and collaboration.
09:58Nowadays, Robbie credits The Wolf of Wall Street with paving the path for her success
10:02with Barbie, telling Deadline in anticipation of the Scorsese film's 10-year anniversary,
10:07"...it feels like this past decade has been wild,
10:09far beyond anything I could ever have dreamed for myself."
10:12If that film showcased Margot Robbie as Hollywood's next big talent,
10:15getting to make Barbie was proof that slapping Leonardo DiCaprio
10:19might have been the greatest split-second decision in the history of cinema.