One of the most interesting things about the American movie culture is that we have a weird attraction towards villains. From Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs to Darth Vader in Star Wars, the movie would not be the same without them. In real life, Americans are often split on media villains such as Edward Snowden. But when it comes to being cast as a villain an actor may never see a leading role. As Boris of Boris and Natacha said, “But TV villains never get top billing.”
That may not be true in the case of Margot Robbie’s career. Playing the role of Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, she has drawn a considerable amount of attention and praise from critics at the Toronto Film Festival. Harding, you may remember, was behind the shenanigans that resulted in the knee bashing of Olympian Nancy Kerrigan. The goal was to eliminate Harding’s main American competitor from the 1994 Olympics. Harding’s ex-husband planned the attack and hired the goon who whacked Kerrigan. The police investigation revealed that Harding not only knew of the pending attack, but basically gave it the go-ahead.
The movie portrays Harding as an abused child and wife, with an overly strict mother. At the same time, Harding is portrayed as not being especially bright when it came to the plotting of the attack against Kerrigan. Robbie’s acting of what can be considered as Harding’s psychological cognitive dissonance won her rave reviews. One tweet said Robbie was “often hilarious, always tragic” in her depiction of Harding. She may have had some previous experience in such a role when she was cast as Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street.
An interesting but troubling fact is that Robbie read the movie script not realizing it was an actual event in American ice skating. Aside from the fact that she is Australian, she was only 3 years and some months old when the event occurred so we need to cut her some slack. She did talk to Harding after taking the part, but said she did not spend a significant amount of time with Harding as she believed it would bias her view and affect her acting of the part.
The real Tonya Harding is reported to have already seen the film and is happy with the result. Being cast as an international villain for decades, she may be glad to get the attention she wanted more than 20 years ago. Villains in real life tend to disappear, either into jail or go into hiding to avoid the potential blistering public criticism of their moral failures. Harding started cashing in on her infamy 20 years ago by selling the film rights to a movie about her life: Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story.
Apparently, what makes the movie great is both the script and the one-two combination of Robbie and Allison Janney, who plays Harding’s mother. Talk has already begun of potential Oscar nominations. No official release date has been set but the early money is on May, 2018.
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