Margot Robbie’s meteoric rise hit a major high point when she nabbed a huge role as Harley Quinn, winning over fans with her portrayal of the lovably insane baddie in SUICIDE SQUAD. However, in a recent interview, she talked about how her life has changed since doing the movie, now having to deal with death threats from crazed fans.
Robbie spoke with THR as part of a profile for her new movie, I, TONYA, which has snagged several Golden Globe nominations, including one for Robbie for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy). At one point she talks about the downsides of the fame that comes from doing a comic book movie and thought about if someone with knowledge about the business should warn actors about what they're getting into:
You're about to be in a comic book film; now here's the worst-case scenario of how big and scary it can get. There's just all this stuff you learn along the way, like, when you get those death threats, it's [smart] to have a security team do a background check on whoever sent them to see if there is any past history of violence because you'll need to know whether you need security to go to certain events," she explains. "And every time you do a background check, it's going to cost $2,000, so take that into consideration when you're getting yourself into this.
She continues, bringing up how this can vastly change how you approach your career, now having to take that new lifestyle into account:
And it's like, "OK, that's a different kind of career." Because then you need to always do a job that can financially support that lifestyle; you can't just do indie films for the rest of your life because that film back there changed everything and now you have to be able to afford security. I just wish someone had explained a lot of those things to me early on. I wouldn't have resented the position I found myself in because I would've known what I was getting myself into.
Robbie’s Quinn was the biggest highlight of SQUAD, and her iteration of the character has found a firm place in pop culture. Fans cosplay as her Quinn and you could swing a bat and hit any number of awesome pieces of art depicting her character. SUICIDE SQUAD was met with poor critic reviews, but more positive fan reception, earning $746 million globally. Robbie has since teased new Quinn projects on the way, with SUICIDE SQUAD 2 likely to start filming this year.
Fans are passionate, and that can translate into something beautiful, with fans dressing up as the character, creating artwork and showing their love in any number of ways. But then there are the crazies, the ones who take their passion too far – channeling it into something dark. Some then go and harass a gifted actress like Robbie, who is doing her best to bring a beloved character to the screen. Robbie stole the show as Quinn, and we should be glad it opened the door to more unique projects like I, TONYA, which she is likely to earn an Oscar nomination for. I don’t doubt she loves playing Quinn, and in between appearances she should be able to take her career down any path she chooses. Like she said, that may be harder to do now that she must deal with crazed fans. I feel for her, and hopefully, enough fans can come together to support her and diminish that darker side of fandom.