The role Margot Robbie doesn’t think she’ll ever beat: “I’ve peaked”
When it was announced that Margot Robbie would be playing the titular doll in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 movie Barbie, her face was subsequently everywhere. Adorned in pink clothing and sporting perfect blonde hair, images of Robbie in character graced billboards and social media, teasing a cinematic phenomenon.
The actor’s star power rose to even greater heights that year, with Robbie picking up her third Oscar nomination while also further establishing herself as a producer with her LuckyChap Entertainment banner. Firmly standing as one of Hollywood’s most well-known stars, Robbie has been able to work with many incredible filmmakers, from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson.
Yet, before she broke into the American mainstream, Robbie was a star of Australian television, appearing in Neighbours for several years. Once she relocated to Hollywood, 2013 proved to be an incredible year for the actor. Not only did she appear in the beloved sci-fi rom-com About Time, but she starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, playing Naomi, the wife of disgraced businessman Jordan Belfort.
The role was a pivotal moment in Robbie’s career, with the actor embodying a character so far removed from her own life. In 2016, Robbie gained further popularity after her performance as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, which was a commercial hit despite the fact that critics absolutely tore it apart.
Still, Robbie played Quinn once again in Birds of Prey, but not before leading I, Tonya, Terminal, and appearing as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her career has seen her rise fast, allowing Robbie to take on many impressive roles that have subsequently garnered widespread praise. One of these characters felt like an important moment for Robbie, although it’s one fans might not expect.
Talking to Man Of Many, Robbie explained how her portrayal as Nellie LaRoy in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon was a memorable experience. “For me, I’ve peaked. I don’t know how it can get better than this; I really don’t,” she explained.
“She was more exhausting than all of the other characters I’ve played that I thought were quite exhausting,” the actor revealed. “Harley is a pretty chaotic character, but Nellie just took things to a whole new level that I adored. She is my favourite character ever.”
Babylon is set during the rise of Hollywood’s golden age, when movies were transitioning from silent to sound and actors were becoming known as stars. Nellie, an incredibly ambitious young woman, desperately wants to be a famous actor, and she soon achieves her aims. Yet, the Hollywood experience comes with its fair share of struggles, which Nellie soon realises.
Chazelle and Robbie based the character on Clara Bow, an iconic actor from the era who grew up facing many issues, like poverty and violence within her family. Robbie clearly studied Bow (and other actors from the era with similar backstories) to create a complex character that is full of depth.
She felt an affinity for Nellie, partly because she could relate to her in a rather unusual way. “I told Damien how when I was on Neighbours, they got a dialect coach to come in to soften my Australian accent because it was so strong. So I can totally relate to Nellie – everyone being like, ‘Argh, your voice is awful.’ I had the exact same thing happen, and I couldn’t hear it at the time. I was like. ‘What do you mean?’”
Babylon might have divided critics, but Robbie remains a great lover of her character, who she brought to life with plenty of nuance and charm.
