Margot Robbie is still confused why the $63 million Hollywood movie failed with audiences 2 years later

Since his breakout role in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie has been one of the most popular actors in the world. The Australian-born actress is best known for her roles as the chaotic Harley Quinn in several DC films, the misunderstood skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonyaand the destined for fame Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, 2023 was an important year for her as she starred in and produced Barbiewhich grossed more than US$1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.

Based on her previous roles, Margot Robbie has proven that she can play heroic roles that will inspire many and characters who have a bit of an advantage. This is on full display in her portrayal of Harley Quinn and can be seen in a 2022 film that didn’t perform well critically or commercially. THE The 2022 film starring Margot Robbie grossed just $63 million on an $80 million budget and has an underwhelming score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. Regardless, Robbie is still shocked that it wasn’t a bigger hit.

Margot Robbie is shocked that the public didn’t like Babylon

Babylon Received disappointing reviews from audiences and critics

Babylon is directed by Damien Chazelle, who has directed critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning films such as La La Terra and Whip. The story of Babylon follows several actors and producers during Hollywood’s transition from silent films to films with sound during the 1920s and 30s. Babylon, Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, an up-and-coming actress struggling to transition from silent films.. In addition to Robbie, the cast of Babylon includes Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Samara Weaving and Tobey Maguire.

Although Robbie and Pitt were expected to draw people to see Babylon In theaters, the film was a huge box office failure. Two years after the launch of BabylonRobbie revealed on Spoken Images podcast that she is still shocked that audiences didn’t like the film. She wondered if people would appreciate Babylon more as the years go by and discussed what she liked about working with Chazelle. Read Robbie’s full comments below:

I love that. I don’t understand either. I know I’m biased because I’m very close to the project and obviously believe in it, but I still can’t understand why people hated it. I wonder if 20 years from now people will think, ‘Wait, Babylon Didn’t do well at the time? Like when you hear this Shawshank Redemption it was a failure at the time and you think: How is this possible?’

Damian is so meticulous. You know what I loved so much about working with him? I felt like no one had really put their foot down with the gas, but he wanted it all the time. He always wanted more. Even when we were preparing.

When we were trying to figure out what that character’s accent should be, I gave him 51 different accent versions. It was like putting on a one-woman show. We start with Boston. Nellie is from Boston. This is what she sounds like if she’s from Arkansas. So I was specific. Here’s Nellie if she was a Snookie mix from Jersey Shore and Joe Pesci. Now I’m going to be a little Fran Drescher mixed with Snookie. This is how we get specific. At one point I counted all the voice things I offered him at that moment and it came to 51.

Our take on Babylon’s box office failure

Babylon was a passion project for Damien Chazelle, and all of the actors, especially Robbie, excelled in the film. Given the amount of talent in front of and behind the camera, it’s shocking that the criticisms about Babylon were no longer strong, and that it was no longer successful with the public and critics. After its release, It really felt like the film was destined for big awards season successbut it never resonated with the public. It wouldn’t be surprising if people started to appreciate Babylon more as time passes.

Source: Spoken Images podcast