Babylon was one of the most manic and creatively daring films of 2022. The movie’s over-the-top energy was exemplified by the character of Nellie LaRoy, an ambitious starlet played with full gusto by Margot Robbie. The movie asks her to go to some emotionally and physically intense places that some actors would be less comfortable taking part in, but Robbie has shown throughout her career that she is willing to take such chances.
Her big break came in The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort’s combative wife Naomi. She earned the role in part due to a risky maneuver that Robbie feared would get her arrested rather than boost her chances.
Robbie thought her ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ audition would be the end, not the beginning, of her career
The intensity of Robbie’s performance has clear parallels with her star turn in Wolf of Wall Street. Stealing any spotlight from Leonardo DiCaprio takes a high level of talent and gumption, two things she sowed in her audition with DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese.
She got so into the character that Robbie went off-script and smacked her famous scene partner in the face. At the time, Robbie, then an unknown actor to most of the world, recalls being terrified about the trouble she would end up in thanks to her improv instincts.
“I was like ‘I think I’m gonna get arrested, let alone not work in this town’, she said before realizing her anxiety was completely unfounded. “And then they burst out laughing, they’re like do that again, that was amazing!”
Robbie won the role and her clever sense of humor, tenacity, and beauty turned her into an overnight sensation. Slapping a stranger has rarely been so beneficial to one’s career. The actor previously explained her thought process behind the slap to Harper’s Bazaar.
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“In my head, I was like, ‘You have literally 30 seconds left in this room and if you don’t do something impressive nothing will ever come of it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, just take it,’” Robbie said. “I hit him in the face. And then I scream, ‘F**k you!’ And that’s not in the script at all. The room just went dead silent and I froze.”
‘Babylon’ is her most extreme role to date
While Robbie has set a precedent for pushing herself as an actor, no project has asked so much of her as Babylon. The movie takes place in an aggressively hedonistic version of the 1920s where drugs are plentiful and even the most perverse fantasy can be indulged. But the stories writer and director Damien Chazelle tells within that world are much more sincere, exploring timeless Hollywood themes like the importance of cinema to the creator and audience, the ephemeral nature of stardom, and the price of fame.
No character experiences Babylon’s thematic extremes more than Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy. Based on the life and persona of silent film star Clara Bow, Nellie is driven by the belief that she is meant to be a star. She pursues her dream (and the next high) with the energy of an octopus and a honey badger, displaying more than enough raw exhibitionist passion to sell her archetypal backstory. She finds a kindred soul in Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a studio worker with aspirations to direct his own movies one day.
‘Barbie’ looks set to be one of the stranger movies of 2023
Robbie’s next role appears to be less demanding than Babylon, but is no less outlandish. She is the titular star of Barbie, which is scheduled for release on July 21, 2023. A movie based on a line of dolls doesn’t sound like fertile ground for interesting storytelling, but the amount of established talent makes it impossible to ignore.
Two-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig directed the movie and co-wrote the script with noted filmmaker and husband Noah Baumbach. The cast alongside Robbie includes Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, and Issa Rae. Plot details are still mostly under wraps, but Barbie will reportedly feature multiple Barbies and Kens, with Will Ferrell playing the CEO of Mattel.
It could be an inventive meta-commentary about beauty standards and the tension between art and commerce or it could be an extraordinary disaster. However the final cut turns out, the teaser trailer’s invocation of 2001: A Space Odyssey makes it clear that Barbie will have to be seen to be believed.
