Margot Robbie has said she didn’t believe she was a “good actor” until she watched herself in I, Tonya.
The actor appeared for a BAFTA: A Life In Pictures event in London on Tuesday (November 22), where she discussed her role as figure skater Tonya Harding in the 2017 black comedy biopic.
“I, Tonya, was the first time I watched a movie and went, ‘OK, I’m a good actor,’” Robbie said (via The Hollywood Reporter). Afterwards, she said she felt like she was “good enough” to be “ready to reach out to my idols”, which included director Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Directed by Craig Gillespie, I, Tonya follows the life and career of Harding and her connection with the 1994 attack on her rival skater Nancy Kerrigan. Robbie received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for the role in 2017, while Allison Janney, who played Tonya’s abusive mother, won the award for Best Supporting Actress.
Robbie had her breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf Of Wall Street, where she played the wife of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), Naomi Lapaglia.
Speaking about the film recently, Robbie said she almost quit acting after her “awful” experience with fame following the role.
“Something was happening in those early stages and it was all pretty awful,” Robbie told Vanity Fair. “I remember saying to my mom, ‘I don’t think I want to do this.’ And she just looked at me, completely straight-faced, and was like, ‘Darling, I think it’s too late not to.’ That’s when I realised the only way was forward.”
Speaking about her methods of dealing with the paparazzi today, Robbie added: “I know how to go through airports, and now I know who’s trying to fuck me over in what ways.
“If my mom dies in a car accident because you wanted a photo of me going in the grocery shop, or you knock my nephew off a bike – for what? For a photo? It’s dangerous but still weirdly nothing feels like it changes.” (NME)