Margot Robbie is the very picture of potential right now.
She made two significant film appearances in 2013. First, she showed up in the under-seen Richard Curtis film “About Time,” where she represented missed opportunity. She was a fetching object of desire, and she had a few nice moments, but it was a brief appearance. In Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” however, she is unforgettable, and by the time the film’s three hours come to a close, she has made such an indelible impression as The Duchess that I would imagine filmmakers all over Hollywood are scrambling to figure out what role she can play for them.
In person, two things are immediately striking about her. First, yes, she is just as stunning in person as she is onscreen. Second, her Australian accent is more pronounced than I would have expected. After all, one of the most impressive things about her work in “Wolf” is how she nailed that specific Brooklyn accent, but in a way that is heightened just slightly, like everything else about the film.
That was one of the first things we discussed, and one of the things that has preoccupied me from when I first started watching movies is the way accents can draw you into a film or add to the character of a movie or the way actors change them up from role to role. It’s more than just the technical side of it, too. There’s something about an accent that helps you transform yourself completely in some roles, and Robbie seems like she’s got the ear for it.
The scene I most wanted to discuss with her comes late in the film, and it is a remarkable examination of sexual power in a relationship. She and Leonardo DiCaprio are amazing in the scene together, and it is something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen addressed this way, especially not in a mainstream studio movie. I was surprised by what she revealed about how the sequence came together, and I’m more impressed than ever by it.
Robbie’s got a huge career in front of her if she continues to bring the sort of dedication and technical skill to other roles that she displayed in “Wolf,” and it’s always a pleasure to talk to someone who is in that first flush of success.
I’ll have an interview with Jonah Hill here as well tomorrow, but for now, Robbie makes a pretty great spokesman for “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” which is playing in theaters everywhere.