Read a Q&A with Margot Robbie who plays Harley Quinn in DC’s new film SUICIDE SQUAD!
During production of Suicide Squad last summer Collider got a chance to visit the Toronto set and sat down with actress Margot Robbie who plays the quirky heroine Harley Quinn.
Margot Robbie talked about her experience on set and things she had to work through, for example filming fighting scenes with heels! Robbie went on to describe how she mentally prepared herself to become the infamous heroine.
Question: How exciting and daunting was it to take on such an iconic character?
MARGOT ROBBIE: Very daunting, for sure. Fortunately, everything kinda moved at such a quick pace and I was working on some other projects at the time, that I didn’t have as much time to think about it. Which I think was definitely a blessing in disguise. And since then, we’ve kind of been straight-training and stuff, and it all just moved kind of quickly that we got here before we realized it. Definitely I’ve had a lot of moments of panic, where I’m like ‘Oh God, they’re gonna hate it.’ And there’s just so many people to please, and you can’t ever really make everyone happy. So, do as much research as possible. Put as much of myself into the role as possible. As long as I do my absolute best and prepare as much as I physically can, hopefully, hopefully people are happy.
What was the hardest part for you? We heard that you’re dancing, you’re fighting…
ROBBIE: Yeah, I mean, ironically enough, it’s the more simple things that prove to be the most difficult Like I can technically learn…you know, I started doing gymnastics, I started doing gun training and this and that. I can understand the technical side of how to do something. Oh, that’s how you can do a forward walk over or a hand stand for thirty seconds? But I didn’t have the physical strength to allow myself to do those things. Even the gun training. If I’ve done gymnastics for an hour and a half and I go straight to the gun range and I’m holding a revolver in my left hand just in case I need to shoot with two hands, my hands are like shaking like this because my muscles are just so sore. And just not strong enough to deal with that, but you have to be able to do that because on set, you know, if you’ve got a close up shot of the gun in the foreground of the frame and it’s shaking like this, you think, ‘Harley doesn’t know that she’s doing. She doesn’t look scary right now. She’s definitely going to miss this shot.’ So ironically enough, it was the more simple things that I had trouble with.
Also, Robbie dished on her interaction with Jared Leto who plays Joker. She talks about the intimacy of their characters and how they become really close in the film.
How wild are the scenes between you and the Joker? How would you characterize them?
ROBBIE: Pretty wild. Crazy. I’ve never seen scenes like it before, personally. It’s next level. People better brace themselves. It’s weird, they’re a fascinating couple. Honestly, I find their stuff the most exciting out of everything. I’d watch a dialogue scene between them over, like, buildings blowing up and guns, which I love that stuff as well. But when they are just—or when they find someone that they wanna pick on, it’s scary. Yeah, they’re messed up.
With her being so attached to the Joker how does she interact with the rest of the Squad? What is her relationship with them and how does she fit in amongst them, being so completely enamored with the Joker all the time?
ROBBIE: Yeah, fortunately, I mean I was kinda banking on the fact that when Harley isn’t around Joker she’s slightly less crazy than she is when she is with him. Only because there’s a lot of plot points you need to get across, and there’s a whole lot other list of characters that have their story lines and stuff. And I find acting 1000 percent crazy all the time it’s just totally gonna distract from what we need to be focusing on in that particular scene. When it’s a Joker scene, she’s pretty nuts because he brings that out in her for sure. And when it’s the rest of the Squad’s scenes, yeah she has her moments for sure. But she’s a little, I wouldn’t say sensible, she’s never sensible. But she’s a little more focused, I suppose.
If you weren’t excited for the movie before, I bet you are now! To read more questions Margot Robbie answered go to Collider for the full Q&A.
Suicide Squad premieres August 5th!
Source: Collider