Margot Robbie Calls Babylon Her Proudest Work

Acclaimed actor Margot Robbie, who plays aspiring starlet Nellie LaRoy in Babylon, states that the Damien Chazelle film is her proudest work.

Babylon star Margot Robbie says the upcoming film is the proudest work of her career. Robbie’s breakout role came in 2013 with Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, a biographical comedy with a dark edge in which she portrayed the second wife of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). Over the past decade, she has earned acclaim for many of her varied roles, even garnering Academy Award nominations in 2018 and 2020 for I, Tonya and Bombshell, respectively. In the upcoming Damien Chazelle-directed film Babylon, Robbie stars alongside Brad Pitt as Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actor new to Hollywood who is sucked into the madness of show business in the 1920s.

In a new video released by Paramount Pictures, Chazelle, Pitt, and Robbie describe the character of Nellie LaRoy in more detail, discussing the inspirations behind her as well as Nellie’s background in the film. Chazelle has previously commented that Pitt and Robbie were able to make their Babylon performances “the most personal thing they had done” due to the connections they share with their characters, and Robbie confirms that here. The actor goes on to say that portraying Nellie has been “the thing I’m most proud of” in both her career and her life, offering high praise to Babylon after the many projects she has starred in over the years. See Robbie’s comments and the Nellie LaRoy Featurette below:

“As the story progresses, she realizes that Hollywood is way harder, way crazier than she ever thought it would be. I’ve never been as close to a character as Nellie before. She came in with a bang and she’s not gonna let anyone stand in her way. It’ll be the thing I’m most proud of in my entire career but also, my entire life.”

Related: Babylon’s Early Reactions Make The Movie Even More Exciting

How Much Of Babylon Is A True Story?

Chazelle has made it clear that Babylon is not a true story, rather an amalgamation of the many myths, legends, and historical records that came out of 1920s Hollywood. The director has explained, and states in the above featurette, that Nellie’s character is inspired by various starlets of that era, including Clara Bow. Bow is considered by some the personification of the “flapper era,” with her lively persona making her popular as one of the first Hollywood “It Girls,” which eventually led to her becoming a sex symbol.

Like Bow, Nellie will be acting in films during the transition from silent movies to “talkies” in Babylon, as well as potentially dealing with newfound and overwhelming stardom. In addition, the above clip sees Nellie mention a seemingly painful-to-recall home life, hinting that she is coming to the industry from a traumatic childhood, like Bow did. While Nellie clearly has a fun side in the marketing for Babylon, Robbie and Chazelle’s comments as well as the comparison to Bow indicate that the character will find herself in extremely difficult situations over the course of the movie.

Will Robbie Win The Oscar For Babylon?

Despite being a highly acclaimed and extremely popular actor with a diverse range of projects, Robbie has yet to win an Academy Award, but Babylon could be the film to change that for her. So far, Chazelle’s star-studded tribute to Roaring ’20s Hollywood has been divisive among critics, but even the mixed reviews are united on Robbie’s mesmerizing and powerful performance. If nominated, she will be going up against potential contenders, including Cate Blanchett for Tár, Viola Davis for The Woman King, Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Olivia Colman for Empire of Light, and several others. Though it’s too early to tell what her chances are, Robbie will certainly leave a lasting impression on viewers when Babylon debuts theatrically this week.

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Source: Paramount Pictures