Margot Robbie will sharpen her skates to play Tonya Harding in I, Tonya

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

One of the largest scandals to rock the Olympic world was when Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhard plotted to remove Nancy Kerrigan from the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. What followed was a widely publicized attack on Kerrigan that left her with a bruised, but not broken, leg which unfortunately left Kerrigan unable to compete in the championship. Nonetheless, Nancy Kerrigan was still selected for the 1994 Olympic team. After being apprehended, Gillooly implicated his ex-wife in the plot and Harding was stripped her of her 1994 U.S. Championship title as well as being banned for life from participating in any USFSA-run events as either a skater or a coach.

A film based upon Tonya Harding's life is now in the works and Deadline is reporting that Margot Robbie (SUICIDE SQUAD) has signed on to play the lead role. The script for I, TONYA has been penned by Steven Rogers (P.S. I LOVE YOU) and according to Deadline he's had extensive interviews with both Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly, hoping to capture "the absurdity of what happened, but also the tragic part of the Harding saga, and trying to come from nothing to prominence in a sport where most of the competitors are the children of wealthy families that can afford all the ice time and trainers needed to get to that high a level."

This summer will be filled with Margot Robbie as she's making an appearance in two big films: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN on July 1, 2016 as well as SUICIDE SQUAD, which is set for an August 5, 2016 release.