The Margot Robbie conundrum
Friday, December 13, 2019 at 9:54AM 
This year's SAG Awards feature an assortment of multiple nominees across categories. Nicole Kidman, Al Pacino, and Scarlett Johansson scored a rare triple nod and they weren't the only ones. Margot Robbie also did it thanks to her participation in two of this season's juiciest awards magnets. In Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, she's Sharon Tate, while, in Bombshell, Robbie gives life to Kayla Pospisil, a fictional character that stands in for many of the women victimized by Fox News' toxic work environment.
Since Cannes, Tarantino's take on Hollywood's most tragic ingenue has been put through heavy scrutiny. Robbie's role has been accused of being a misogynistic and limited take on Sharon Tate, terminally underwritten and underutilized to boot. Even so, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood is a critics' darling while Bombshell has been promptly lambasted as soon as the review embargo ended. Controversies notwithstanding, I confess myself dismayed at the way Margot Robbie's Oscar hopes seem to have concentrated solely on the Jay Roach flick…
Sharon Tate may not have many lines in Quentin Tarantino's elegy for the dying days of Old Hollywood, but Margot Robbie makes the most of what she's given. Moreover, her Sharon Tate is essential to the film's tone of melancholic reveries about days long gone and stars long forgotten. She's both a symbol and a real woman. She's a paragon of goodness in a doomed world and a kind-hearted actress going about her day-to-day life. She's a dream of glamour and surprisingly banal. This is a bit of a contradiction and the success of her portrayal hinges in acting that contradiction as a coherent personality.
I've written about the perils of playing a good person but Robbie is magnetic as Tate, charismatic in a way that seems innate and completely effortless. Her sunny disposition feels perfectly natural, even when it's shaded by the discomfort of a pregnant woman suffering through a smoldering August night. There's humanity to this idol, the sort which shines in little gestures like a bashful smile at the box-office or the automatic motion to greet everyone with a hug.
It's delicate work and easily underestimated. After three visits to the wonders of Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, I still get teary-eyed at the sheer joy Robbie's Tate shows while in the cinema, her limpid expression calling to mind Mia Farrow's emotional clarity while staring at the silver screen in The Purple Rose of Cairo. There's also her carefree sweetness in the last moments of the fairytale, an emotional gut-punch that's delivered like a tender kiss. Without her, the picture wouldn't work.
Bombshell might be Margot Robbie's ticket to Oscar glory but that doesn't mean it features her best performance of 2019.
Reader Comments (25)
Honestly, I just love her so much and want her to receive all the recognitions, no matter the performance. What a beautiful, talented, funny, lovely star of a person.
The emotional impact of hearing Sharon Tate on the intercom at the end of the picture, having spent no time with her in the narrative, would have been so much more impactful and satisfying. Her character felt like a wasted opportunity.
It will bolster her chances. Maybe Dern will be caught on camera killing a puppy and she can win here instead of an imminent ingenue Best Actress Trophy.
Yes, I have to admit I'm mystified that awards consensus seems to be entirely focused on her role in Bombshell, a film that nobody seems to like very much, over her small, but sharp and emotive work in a film widely understood to be one of the Best Picture/Director frontrunners.
The lack of dialogue didn't really bother me as she created a way and feel about Sharon,The highlight for me in this cinema years is Sharon watching herself and the reaction to being liked on the Movie Screen,it's not often we see how actors really feel about being up there,Margot showed Sharon may have loved it and been rather bashful about it.
I hope a correction occurs with Robbie on nomination morning and she is up for this rather than Bombshell and she's lauded for doing this in an era of "Look at Me" performances.
I enthusiastically agree! Robbie is terrific in Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood. I stubbornly refuse to count her out for Oscar consideration. After all, the prize being awarded to an excellent actress for a superb performance with limited or no dialogue has certainly occurred previously (Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, Luise Rainer in The Good Earth, Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda, Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker, Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God, and Holly Hunter in The Piano).
I enthusiastically agree. Robbie is terrific in Once Upon a Time in . . . . Hollywood. I stubbornly refuse to give up hope her performance will be recognized by Oscar. After all, there is a history of the prize being awarded to an excellent actress playing a role with little or no dialogue (Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, Luise Rainer in The Good Earth, Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda, Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker, Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God and Holly Hunter in The Piano).
I never understood the Cannes uproar the same way I don't understand why we need to shower her with awards so soon.
@James, a lot of those performances you listed were of actresses playing muted or in silent films. That’s a bit different than what’s going on here.
Robbie is great and the Tate character works perfectly for the film. However, if this were an unknown, very few people would be talking about her getting a nod for this role. I’m fine with her getting in for Bombshell, in part, because I think it’s what will get her closer to the Tropjy. Much like Jim Boradbent and Alicia Vikander, if she wins it will be for the more “academy friendly” performance that’s nominated, but truly her collective work will push her over the line. She’ll get votes from voters who have a limited view of what wins awards as well as fan of her Tate.
If a performer "makes the most of what she's given," then that isn't enough for them to get a nomination IMO. I wouldn't nominate her for either role, considering the better options already out there (Bates, Dern, Lopez, Johansson, Monae, Yeo-Jeong, Bening, Shuzhen, Pugh, Spencer, and Moss).
Maybe I just don't "get" her I guess.
The Mary Queen of Scots love was undeserved, yes.
Yes completely miscast there.
You'd think people in the actors' branch would understand how difficult it is to act without the aid of lots of dialogue. Do they think Liv Ullmann's work in Persona is second rate because she only speaks two words in that film?
Margot Robbie is wonderful in OUATIH, but if shifting Margot Robbie's awards focus to Bombshell frees up a chance for the studio to push Julia Butters, the real Supporting Actress from that film, then I'm all for it.
"Daniella, I've seen Persona, I know Persona, Persona is a cinematic milestone. Daniella, that performance is no Liv Ullmann in Persona."
Neither. She is just a pretty girl.
Maybe she'll Kate Winslet or Leo DiCaprio (ha) this joint.. everyone expected her to get two nods in 2008, including Revolutionary Road nod in 2008, but she ended up with just The Reader (in lead!). Similarly, in 2006 Leo kept popping up in both lead and support for The Departed, and ended up in for Blood Diamond.
Robbie was absolutely radiant as Sharon. There's an aura about her that's infectious and deeply felt. I think back to her scene at the Playboy mansion, just dancing and having a whole lot of fun while completely, effortlessly commanding our (or at least...my) gaze.
But alas, we're a culture that likes to complain and fuss, and I think that taking QT/the performance to task over her lack of lines is a reductive critique on Robbie's work. I thought she was really great as is. Having more!!! lines does not need to be a prerequisite for an engaging, impactful performance.
I really expected A LOT more for Sharon Tate’s last night on Earth. We know the tragedy of that night. Not that I wanted to see her slain-I guess that I wanted to her go from golden sunlight to complete nightmare darkness. And the idiotic ending of Brad Pitt (spoiler alert) fighting off the Manson crowd?!? You’ve got to be kidding. Guess I expected to see Sharon pleading with the crazies for some true acting...
I like both and both show off different elements of her performance style. I'd be happy with either. I imagine a OUATIH will age better and I love that cinema scene so much.
Hollywood loves itself so she will be nominated for playing Sharon Tate. But I agree she is only in consideration for Oscars because of her looks. It's not a bad thing but there are many other talented actors who barely get noticed.
Finally a movie star! What was the last? Sharon Stone.
Finally a movie star! What was the last one, Sharon Stone?
The camera loves Robbie she is a true movie star. She does not need dialogue to create a character.
What about no nom at all for her this year. I like her and even love I, TONYA, but let’s give due respect to other actresses who do not just stand there looking pretty.