Die-Hard Rangers Fan Margot Robbie Is Learning How to Figure Skate to Play Tonya Harding
The actress really likes ice hockey, but she's terrible at it.
Actress Margot Robbie always chooses a signature fragrance for each character she plays. Right now, though, she's wearing the peppery rose and jasmine scent Calvin Klein Deep Euphoria, and that suits her fine in real life. In her next role, as the legendary figure skater Tonya Harding, who is best known for her involvement in attacking fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan at the Olympics, she may have to find something more suitable. For now, she’s concentrating on mastering her triple salchow, and attending Rangers games for inspiration.
I saw you on the Madison Square Garden Jumbotron last night.
Were you at the Rangers game?
No, my husband was watching. He said, “Honey, there’s Margot Robbie.” And I thought, Good opener…
Every time we go to a game, at the start, my agent always reminds me, “You know they photograph you at the game, so just remember that.” So, I’m like, “Keep it cool, it’s all good.” That lasts for the first two periods, but by the third period, I’m just like “ARGH!” I just get so into it. And then I saw the pictures today, and I’m like, “I look like a psychopath. Great.”
But you’re a big hockey fan and you play right wing?
Yeah. I don’t want to be misleading and make you think I’m really good at ice hockey. I’m terrible, but I really like it.
How’d you get into it?
I’d always wanted to play when I was a kid, but I grew up in the Gold Coast, which is a super tropical place in Australia, and there was no ice hockey so I played field hockey instead. Then when I moved to America, I joined a league but I didn’t know how to ice skate. I just basically ran around on the ice, but I had so much padding on that it didn’t really matter. You couldn’t hurt yourself if you tried, at least not when you’re playing in an amateur league. But I love it; it’s wicked fun. But as soon as I’m contracted to a job, I can’t play anymore because for insurance purposes, you can’t skate. When I was contracted to “Pan Am,” I couldn’t play, but when that was over I could. Then I got “Wolf of Wall Street,” so I was under contract again. If you’re fortunate enough to be working, you really only have little pockets when you’re not insured for anything. So you can’t sky dive, or do anything that would potentially harm you.
So are you playing now, or are you under contract?
Well, funnily enough, I am training at the moment to be Tonya Harding, so I’m learning how to figure skate. And they’re like, “So, you’re going to be good right? Because you play ice hockey.” And I had to tell them I wasn’t very good, plus hockey skates and figure skates are totally different. And now I realize as I’m trying to learn is, wow, I never really skated. I just ran around on the ice and just smashed into the barriers. I didn’t really know how to stop; I’d just sprint. And now that I don’t have all that padding on, it’s terrifying so I have to be a lot more careful learning. You try to be more technically accurate. I’m producing it as well, so we’ve been a part of it longer than if I’d just been acting in it. We start shooting in January.
Were you obsessed with the Harding-Kerrigan story like most Americans were?
I didn’t really know the story. I was four in 1994 when the incident happened, and we didn’t really watch TV, so I was really removed from it. But everyone tells me they were obsessed with the story. When I read the script, I didn’t even know it was true. Then I started researching it.
Did you meet her?
I haven’t yet, but I think I’m going to. She gave her life rights, so she’s aware of the project. I don’t know if she’s read this version of the script, but it’s based off an interview she gave, so she’s pretty aware of everything she said and how the story’s going to go. So from finishing my last job, which was the A.A.Milne project in London, which I finished on Halloween, all I have is November and December to train so I’ve just started and it’s really hard. Really, really, really, really hard. Hopefully, I’ll be good enough in time.
Who’s training you?
A woman named Sarah Kallahara. She’s done choreography for other movies, like “Blades of Glory,” and choreographed Nancy Kerrigan back in the day.
Isn’t that ironic.
She was in that whole world when that was happening. She’s pretty ingrained in the figure skating industry. She’s really, really good, but I am clearly a challenging project for her. She’s used to working with brilliant skaters, and I’m like, “How do I go backwards again?” But I just managed to do backwards crossovers, so I’m excited about that. I wish I’d learned as a kid. Learning at 26 is entirely different.
I think that’s true of every sport, because you have no fear, your center of gravity is lower.
Nothing hurts as much. You just bounce back. But it’s the fear. It’s the hardest thing. I’m trying to get on my outside edges and I’m like, “I understand everything you’re telling me to do, but my body is telling me NOT to lean into the ice because I’ll hurt myself.”
But do you have an affinity for speed?
I do, like when I played hockey, I’d just go as fast as possible. But that’s when I had all the padding. Now that I don’t, my knees start to shake and I get really nervous. And I’m flying and thinking, when I hit the ground, it’s going to hurt that much more. It’s the shock of the impact that’s more confronting than the actual impact.
Maybe your coach just needs to say, You’re fine! So tell me about the shooting of the ad for Deep Euphoria with Francis Lawrence.
It was great working with him because he’s a film director who works with actors all the time. It was better than if I do a fashion shoot, which is rare, I always feel weird and out of place because I never modeled. It’s a skill set. When we were doing a photo shoot promoting “Suicide Squad,” I’d just watch how Cara [Delevingne] worked. She’s on immediately, she knows her angles, she can get all the looks done in no time at all. And then you watch an actor do it and they’re like…it’s not the same thing. It’s just being out of the element. When I walk into a film set, I feel at home, so I feel confident doing what I’m doing. I know everyone’s jobs and where all the equipment is and everything that’s happening. I feel like I belong there.