- Simon Garner
Actor of the Week: Margot Robbie
It’s time for our Actor of the Week feature again. This week, it’s the one and only Margot Robbie! Australian Robbie has had a big few years, going from smaller roles in TV and film, to a household name in what seemed like overnight. It seems like her turn as the loveable rogue Harley Quinn in 2016’s Suicide Squad has made basically everyone fall in love with her, but it was 2013’s Wolf of Wall Street that catapulted her to stardom.
In Wolf of Wall Street she plays Naomi Lapaglia, the wife of The Wolf himself, Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. She first shows up at a lavish party thrown by Belfort and his cronies, and she turned heads instantly. Dressed glamorously, as well as being beautiful, everyone at the party stops and stares, and the audience does exactly the same. She eventually has an affair with the married Belfort and ultimately marries him, post-divorce. The dynamic between Robbie and DiCaprio is excellent. They go from being insanely into each other, to a hilarious husband and wife at war, mainly because DiCaprio’s Belfort just doesn’t grow up. There’s one particular scene in their child’s bedroom, involving indecency and hidden security cameras, that the adults can check out, but most likely remember well! What really impressed me was the accent Robbie employed to play the role. She has the American-Italian accent pinned down perfectly, and having known nothing about her prior to seeing this film, finding out she was Australian made it all the more impressive.
From Wolf of Wall Street she went into high demand, being cast in films galore thereafter. She starred alongside Chris Pine, AotW #5 for us, in 2015’s Z For Zachariah, and Focus, of the same year, alongside Will Smith.
That leads us nicely to Suicide Squad, in which Robbie and Smith worked together again. Whilst I felt Suicide Squad itself was largely average, Robbie was a standout performer, and rightfully deployed at the forefront of the marketing. She is, as previously stated, a loveable villain. Clearly barmy, she flits between madness and charm with ease, and it leaves those surrounding her not knowing whether they’re coming or going for large parts. There’s plenty of action and she is at the centre of a lot of it. She employs plenty of her arsenal - good looks and great sense of humour are both evident throughout. There’s a great example of both in one scene, the ‘suit up’ scene. She refers to voices in her head comically, as well as innocently asking ‘What?’ when everyone is watching her change!
At just 26 years old, she has a very bright future ahead of her. Plenty of time to use all her skills and I have no doubt she is destined for bigger things. Already working alongside greats, and underneath great directors, Scorcese for one, she’ll only get better and better. Go on Margot!
