“I couldn’t breathe”: The most unpleasant scene Margot Robbie has ever shot
After starring as the titular doll in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie adaptation last summer, Margot Robbie has secured her position as one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Since finding her start on Australia’s beloved soap Neighbours, she’s honed a particularly impressive filmography that spans superhero films, sports biopics, and even a Quentin Tarantino picture.
Robbie found her real breakthrough opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, donning designer clothes and boarding yachts, but not all of her projects have been quite so glamorous. Before she became Barbie, she ventured into the world of big-budget blockbuster adaptations with 2016’s Suicide Squad.
Directed by David Ayer, the film had a hugely impressive ensemble cast that also featured the likes of Will Smith and Viola Davis. Robbie channelled Debbie Harry and took on the role of DC villain Harley Quinn, donning blue and red pigtails and streaked mascara in a look that would become a Halloween staple in the years to come.
The film charts Quinn’s descent into supervillainy with a sequence featuring Jared Leto’s Joker. While working at Arkham Asylum, Quinn falls for the villain and helps him escape, but she truly becomes Harley Quinn when the Joker encourages her to dive into a tub of chemicals. The pair emerge from the murky waters together, surrounded by red and blue, as Leto laughs maniacally.
Speaking about the experience of shooting the scene during a 2016 interview with The Washington Post, Robbie deemed it “the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.” She remembered how the “gluggy paint” went in her ears, nose, and even her eyes. “I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled, “and I tried to open my eyes, and it would glaze over my eyeballs, and I could only see white.”
The experience certainly sounds unpleasant, nowhere near as glamorous as shooting on the pink streets of Barbie Land or in Jordan Belfort’s mansion. Unfortunately for Robbie, the unpleasant experience of shooting the scene wasn’t even justified by the final result. Suicide Squad may have landed a sequel, but the original film was hated by audiences and critics alike.
Robbie may have done her best with the poor material she was given, even suffering through a paint bath, but even she couldn’t save Suicide Squad from its fate. The scene itself probably wasn’t even worth the unpleasantry, completely unnoteworthy for its visual effects or cinematography, looking just as gross as Robbie’s description of it.
Although Suicide Squad may have flopped – and provided Robbie with the most unpleasant experience of her life – it has had absolutely no bearing on the trajectory of her career since. With her next film, I, Tonya, she would even receive a nod from the Academy, while her future ventures into the blockbuster realm would be critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful.
Robbie has also proven her capabilities beyond the realm of superheroes and plastic dolls, venturing into the world of producing and working with cult directors like Tarantino and Wes Anderson. Her filmography now spans rom-coms, historical flicks, and voice acting, each new project proving her versatility. Her talent deserves far better than paint baths and poorly received superhero films.
Watch the scene Margot Robbie described as “the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever done in my entire life” below.