Casting Nancy Kerrigan
Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 7:00PM 
Kieran, here. It was announced earlier this week that Margot Robbie would be playing figure skater turned tabloid fodder Tonya Harding in a biopic titled I, Tonya. On a personal note, I distinctly remember my mother voicing her distaste about Harding being on the cover of nearly a dozen tabloid magazines in my pediatrician’s office when I was a kid. It was everywhere and given how ubiquitous the story became, it’s kind of surprising that it’s taken this long for it to get the cinematic treatment. Well…the earnest, theatrical cinematic treatment. There was a hastily assembled television movie which aired in April of 1994 (the Harding scandal was at the 1994 Winter Olympics). It features Heather Langenkamp (yes, Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Nancy Kerrigan, just in case you were wondering.
A director has yet to be attached to the project or even named to be in consideration, but Patty Jenkins (Monster) immediately feels like a great choice. Other than the forthcoming Wonder Woman movie, Jenkins hasn’t directed a feature film since her 2003 debut which netted Charlize Theron a Best Actress Oscar. In Monster, Jenkins showed a real knack for empathy without absolution while dealing with a troubled protagonist. As sensationalized and as much the butt of jokes Tonya Harding became, her story is ultimately one of abject poverty, fleeting triumph and tragic failure. One would hope that it doesn’t descend entirely into an exercise in camp and Jenkins could provide a sure yet sensitive hand at the helm.
One can hardly embark upon telling the tale of Tonya Harding without talking about Nancy Kerrigan. No actress has signed on for the part, so its presumably still up for grabs. When considering who would play the oft mocked silver-medal winner who became America’s sweetheart for a short time, many names came up.
Just saying. pic.twitter.com/OcHs2NQy5u
— Chris Feil (@chrisvfeil) March 22, 2016
Chris Feil, fellow Team Experience member shrewdly suggested Daisy Ridley, fresh off Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the role, complete with photographic evidence. Ridley would be a good choice and more importantly it would be an opportunity for the young rising star to show her range beyond blockbusters. Word is that Ridley is currently courting the Lara Croft role in a Tomb Raider reboot.
A few people online have named Anne Hathaway as a good choice. There are certainly parallels. It seems that both Hathaway and Kerrigan got dinged for a certain...wholesomeness that seems to enrage people for reasons that are completely alien to me. The Hathaway hatred is absolutely baffling and it feels almost certain she'd be inexplicably pilloried even further if she took a role that requires her to cry earnestly on screen yet again.
Though both are interesting choices, the actress who I’d be most curious to see step into the role of Kerrigan is Alicia Vikander. It seems that she’s made her mark in films that are either period (or more period than 1994) or heavy on stylization. I’d be curious to see how Vikander, fresh off her Oscar win, performs in the absence of either.
Are you excited for the project? Who would you like to see in the role of Nancy Kerrigan?
Reader Comments (39)
Hathaway yes NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Vikander.
Rooney Mara as Nancy.
I totally stand by the Daisy Ridley suggestion. Not just for the physical resemblance, but I think she and Robbie would have fascinating chemistry opposite eachother here. I see their acting temperatures in sync, but Ridley would also be ready for a similar challenge that Robbie's getting here.
I'm interested to see how Robbie dampens her sex appeal, grace, glamour and intelligence to play Harding. If she can pull that off, I'll join her fan club big time.
As for the Kerrigan role: Kristen Stewart (I like a stretch), Emma Watson, Nina Dobrev, Greer Grammer, Sarah Ramos (Haddie on Parenthood). And Ridley, yeah.
mark- I'm with you on this one!
Margot is also producing it I think, so even better for her to take one step further in Hollywood.
Ridley is an inspired choice, so total YES on that. Hathaway would have been so obvious though. and No on Vikander. She is way too pretty for this role.
/3rtful: Rooney Mara would be an interesting, if extremely meta-texture driven, choice.
Patty Jenkins is so FABULOUS a choice, Kieran, that now I will be incredibly sad if it's not her.
The Women on Pop ladies on SiriusXM were recommending Alison Williams for "Girls".
I hope they don't go the camp route. It's ultimately a sad story about class and ambition.
Saying that actresses in Hollywood are too old for a certain role is definitely an unpopular sentiment (and I will never agree with people shaming actresses for being too old) but I just think that giving the role to Anne Hathaway when she is like 10 years older than Nancy Kerrigan was during this time is not a good idea when there are other qualified actresses Nancy's age at the time who look more like Nancy... all Im gonna say lol
I still want to see Amy Adams play Tanya Harding even if she's "too old" for the role.
I'm Team Vikander. Though I think Felicity Jones or Elizabeth Olsen would do fine in the role as well.
Also, I'm happy Margot Robbie is getting meaty roles. She's a smarter actress than she looks.
Unfortunately, the right time to make this film was about 15-20 years ago, when we could have gotten Amy Adams as Tonya and Julianna Margulies as Nancy. They were both practically dead ringers back then. Almost as much as Daisy Ridley (if she can suppress her Brit accent, she'd probably be perfect), and moreso than Robbie.
But really, in a world where The Price of Gold exists, do we even need this?
I like the idea of Anne Hathaway as Nancy Kerrigan though I think it should go to Daisy Ridley. Alicia Vikander... fuck off!
Keira Knightley?
Amy Adams already did DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. She needn't do it twice!
But seriously, I am all for Margot and I'd be keen for Ridley. She would be smart to choose a movie like this over TOMB RAIDER. Multiple franchises is just begging for a backlash. And she appears to be a good actress so I don't hope for that.
I'd be super interested if they went the satirical TO DIE FOR route, but there's obviously a serious route to be taken. A director like Patty Jenkins or Kimberley Pierce or even Courtney Hunt would work well with it, I'm sure. I'd kinda be super interested to see Sarah Polley tackle material such as this, also.
I am kind of stumped on who to cast. Nancy Kerrigan had a beautiful but unique face and figure. You have have to cast someone young and athletic who had a similar appearance. Daisy Ridley is a good suggestion. They will probably cast someone young and less famous as Robbie. Maybe Tessia Farmiga?
I don't get the point of Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding. Is this her Monster? Seems a bit camp but good luck,
As someone who is familiar with skating I would suggest the physical ability to actually Skate will be a little more important than pure physical resemblance.
It is a shame that Amy Adams has aged out of the role of Tonya, as a dancer she had both looks and innate physical abilities. She grew up in Colorado and can probably can skate.
But of all the choices mentioned I think Daisy Ridley is physically close, but I doubt she's ever put on skates. She does seem athletically inclined though.
anna kendrick
Elizabeth Debicki as Nancy Kerrigan
While I love Debicki, she's got the exact opposite type of screen presence. Also, she's maybe just too tall to depict a figure skater, who are generally under 5 foot 5. Now I know that's a mostly irrelevant thing for most roles (and it should be, there's no good reason Debicki's height should be a disadvantage in her career), but in this case it would possibly be a bit distracting.
You know who looks like Tonya? Amy Schumer!
I, too, am somewhat baffled by the Hathaway hating. But I can't help
but find her so very irritating on and off screen. It's like every time I
see her I just want to smash her face in. Spooky...
I, too, am somewhat baffled by the Hathaway hating. But I can't help
but find her so very irritating on and off screen. It's like every time I
see her I just want to smash her face in. Spooky...
Sutton Foster
I like Hathaway a lot but even I got tired of her during her Oscar year. She went from giving strong, interesting, articulate acceptance speeches to somehow reverting to a toddler with her "it came twoo" Oscar speech.
But anyway, that's all in the past and I really do like her so I hope her career gets a second wind. The Intern did fairly well, if not an outright blockbuster, so that's a good start.
People used to call Kerrigan "the Katharine Hepburn of the ice." She was perceived as somewhat chilly and patrician (it surprised many to learn that she came from a blue-collar background). I know this persona has sort of been rewritten with history, but she really wasn't a Hathaway type in the early '90s. I could definitely see Kristen Stewart or Daisy Ridley playing her, if they could manage to skate.
"Unfortunately, the right time to make this film was about 15-20 years ago, when we could have gotten Amy Adams as Tonya and Julianna Margulies as Nancy. They were both practically dead ringers back then."
I was thinking the same thing. It is too bad this film wasn't made a long time ago.
Yeah Amy Adams and Julianna Marguiles would've been great.
For now, I'd pro-Anne Hathaway (though she's a bit old for it) or especially Daisy Ridley. Rooney Mara would be interesting, but I'm not sure I see it, She's a bit exotic for it, And Alicia Vikander just has a distinctly European vibe to me - kind of like Reese Witherspoon's southern vibe - that I can't see her shaking to the extent she'd need to in order to play someone as quintessentially All-American as Nancy.
Daisy Ridley I think does bring a natural wholesomeness as well as a lithe athleticism to the role, plus the strong physical resemblance. I'm liking it more and more.
Adam K: The primary reason for casting Rooney Mara, if that's what they go for, is meta-texture (Heather Langenkamp was Nancy Kerrigan the first time, so why not the second Elm Street Nancy for this new version?), not that she looks like the real person. Because that's the reason, you're not necessarily supposed to "see it".
Harding would definitely have been a Zellweger role back in the day.
Hopefully they chronicle Tonya's rise in 1991 and her rivalry with Kristi as well. As far as the Nancy casting goes, Daisy definitely has the right look and Kristen Stewart has a similar comportment.
To me Rooney Mara is almost a non actress in the Kristen Stewart style.
We re-watched Carol again this weekend to see if we missed anything ... bedsides the background production values which were spot on .. the acting was very uninteresting... it was
like watching wallpaper peel slowly from the wall. And I like subtle acting quite well.
I think alicia Viklander would be a good match.l
CAMP EVENT! Some stories merit cinematic treatment. This is not one of them.
So no Americans can play these roles? Off to me since this is such a quintessential American story. Just a side rant: Margot Robbie and Lupita Nyong'o came out in the same year, but I've seen far more of the former than the latter, who had the Oscar in tote BTW. I wonder why that disparity is SMDH. At least Lupita was in "Star Wars," and she might be a Tony winner soon.
hate to burst everyone's bubble but i've read the script for "i, tonya" and nancy literally doesn't have a single line of dialogue.
knowitall: If that's the case? META is the only option. Rooney Mara as Nancy Kerrigan.