Margot Robbie Lives On 'Totally Different Planet' Than The Conservative Women She Studied For 'Bombshell'
Preparing For A Controversial Role
The upcoming film Bombshell is already starting to get Oscar buzz, particularly around the performances of Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie. Focusing on the Fox News scandal and the ousting of Roger Ailes, Bombshell features Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson and Theron as Megyn Kelly.
Robbie's character, Kayla Popsil, isn't a real person but rather an amalgam of stories that have been told about working at the controversial news network. Although the character isn't an actual person, her experiences in the film are based on actual events.
An Intense Script
Robbie opened up about her preparation for the role for while she was a guest on Variety and iHeart Radio’s podcast The Big Ticket. From the sound of things, it was a rather intense project from the start.
"I was pretty rattled by the time I got to the end of [Charles Randolph’s] script, to be honest. And I knew long before I finished the script that I wanted to do it and be a part of it, just because I thought it was important to tell, and be a part of, and support in any way that I can. I hadn’t, for once, thought of the character first. I thought of the content and the messaging before kind of aligning myself with the character. That came next, was starting to understand Kayla."
"Different Planets"
She explained that in order to research her role, she followed a bunch of young women who were conservative influencers on social media in order to get into the mindset of someone who could work at Fox News.
"Understanding her upbringing and her point of view on politics in the world, that really took me a minute. Twitter was extremely helpful. I would follow these young, conservative girls who are very vocal with their beliefs and their political points of view. And that was fascinating because they’re my age. In some ways, we’d have a lot in common. And then, in other ways I was like, ‘We are living on totally different planets.’"
Charlize Theron Is Used To It
Charlize Theron, who plays Megyn Kelly, also opened up about the difficulty of playing such a controversial figure, but explained that she's "built a career on playing people you don’t like." She told Variety:
"Megyn Kelly, of course, can be incredibly polarizing. People either love her or they hate her. She makes no excuses for that. Those are the rules that are handed to me. I have to obey by those rules. I would be lying if I didn’t say I can relate to being a woman, on a different degree, experiencing those same thoughts about me. I’ve heard people describe me as cold, or hard, or a b*tch."
It's safe to say that Bombshell is getting people talking and these performances will surely keep the conversation going through awards season.
