Read Margot Robbie's Vogue 2021 Cover Interview In Full: “If I Want Something, I Have To Make It Happen” (original) (raw)

It was on film sets that she met her close friends, from the crew members she set up the company with, seven of them sharing a four-bed house in Clapham, Robbie tripping off to do the odd press conference, to those she chats to daily in WhatsApp groups across three time zones. “Often people ask, ‘What was it like working with so-and-so?’, you know, a fellow actor.” A Kidman or a Pitt. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I worked with 300 people on this movie. Two of them were actors.’”

It was the London WhatsApp group of crew members she called on to help write an open letter to Hollywood as the #metoo movement bloomed, a letter on behalf of women in the industry without a platform. “Superhero films have been all the rage,” she wrote, “and I should know, as I have benefited from the trend. I only wish we could transfer a little bit of that heroism into reality. That those heroes we admire in movies would defend us against the villains in government, in the workplace, in the entertainment industry, and even in the most basic human interactions.” That was 2017, the year LuckyChap started developing Emerald Fennell’s dark comedy Promising Young Woman. “Margot is a complete one-off, as is the company she founded,” says Fennell today, having won an Oscar for her screenplay. “It was entirely because of her and LuckyChap’s tenacity, brilliance and single-mindedness that we were able to make the film in such an uncompromising way.”

Robbie discussed taking the lead, but decided it would be too obvious a choice – Carey Mulligan would be more surprising. She was right. “I have a real aversion to being put in a box. The minute someone sums me up in two words...” She growls. “I want to show them I’m the exact opposite.” She takes a breath. “As soon as you have some success in one type of role, people want you to keep doing that thing. Which I think would just be... boring.”

She takes a swig of water from, wait... is that a Love Island bottle? She wriggles with glee. The biggest fan. “If I went to university, I’d write a thesis about the male ego on Love Island.” She’s only half joking. “I’m really interested in the whole alpha male dynamic, and I’m going to sound like an absolute lunatic right now, but it’s like Deliverance, that pack mentality. And you can see it whether you’re watching a pack of lions or Love Island or a Scorsese gangster film.” The problem with being extremely successful, though, is that one doesn’t have enough time to watch Love Island. “No, back in the day, I didn’t have any money, but I had time. And now I’ve got money but no time.”

The room has grown lighter while we’ve been talking, the curtained sun moving across the sleeping dog, the empty cereal bowl, and Robbie has grown lighter, too. The migraine has eased. “This conversation has really woken me up!” she chirrups. She has been writing letters again, like the ones to Tarantino and the Neighbours producers, to people she wants to work with next. She won’t say who – doesn’t want to jinx anything, plus, it’s bad business – but she’s excited. “I’m not good at waiting. If I want something, I can never just sit there,” she says, just sitting there, “I have to make it happen.”

There’s a secret place she goes, a literal tree house, somewhere in the middle of Europe, when she needs a break. She’d love to be there now, but unfortunately, her ambitions are poking her in the back. “I want to direct,” she half whispers, a performance of shyness. “I’d like to try writing. Those would be huge challenges, which to be honest, I might not pull off. I also think directing is a privilege and not a right. But I have a story that’s been in my head for years. And I need to put pen to paper and see if it looks ridiculous or not.”

There’s a plan, she says, leaning in, and again in her eyes I see that unusual joy, the joy of someone running very fast down a beach, heart racing, sticking to their path as the world explodes behind them.

The Suicide Squad is released on 30 July

The August 2021 issue of British Vogue is on newsstands on 2 July