Actresses who look like and are as talented as Margot Robbie usually don’t stay unemployed for long, but if she hadn’t taken an NBC-endorsed risk in her The Wolf of Wall Street audition, she might not be co-headlining a movie with Will Smith this weekend. Before she was “the hottest blonde ever,” Robbie, who was born in 1990(!), was the star of an Australian soap opera and the quickly canceled Pan Am. Not exactly high profile stuff, but Martin Scorsese’s casting director passed her audition tape along to the director, who invited her in for a read.
“OK, so: big open room, video camera, Ellen Lewis is filming. Just me, Marty and Leo.” In the scene, Robbie’s character and DiCaprio’s character…are on their first date. ‘We get three lines into it and he says something and, subconsciously, I roll my eyes. And Leo’s like, ‘What was that look for?’ And I’m thinking, in my head: ‘That’s not a line! Is he really asking me that? Should I explain?’ And then I realise he’s ad-libbing. I’m like, ‘Oh, shit. He’s improvising! I need to improvise now!’
“So I’m failing miserably. And Leo’s phenomenal. He’s powerful. He can do his part and he can do your part at the same time with his eyes closed. I’m barely getting a word in. When I do it’s not anything interesting – I just look pathetic.”
Next scene…Robbie again: “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.’ And so I start screaming at him and he’s yelling back at me. And he’s really scary. I can barely keep up. And he ends it saying, ‘You should be happy to have a husband like me. Now get over here and kiss me.’ So I walk up really close to his face and then I’m like, ‘Maybe I should kiss him. When else am I ever going to get a chance to kiss Leo DiCaprio, ever?’ But another part of my brain clicks and I just go, Whack! I hit him in the face. And then I scream, ‘F*ck you!’ And that’s not in the script at all. The room just went dead silent and I froze. I’m thinking, ‘You just hit Leonardo DiCaprio in the face. They’re going to arrest you because that’s assault. You’re definitely never going to work again, that’s for sure. They’ll probably sue you as well in case there’s a bruise on his face and he needs to film something else. And then all of a sudden Marty and Leo just burst out laughing. Marty says, ‘That was great!’ Leo’s like, ‘Hit me again!'” (Via)
The lesson here is to slap Leonardo DiCaprio the next time you see him.
Assuming you look like Margot Robbie.
Via Harper’s Bazaar
