Margot Robbie ‘didn’t know what sexual harassment was’ before Bombshell, says ‘situation is not black and white’
Margot Robbie has revealed she was unaware of the definition of sexual harassment until she signed on for the 2019 film Bombshell
Margot Robbie has opened up about her decision to work on Bombshell, the 2019 film which revolved around women experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, and how it left her “horrified” to know so little about the subject .
“I realized that as someone with an established position in the industry, financially established and empowered, I didn’t know the definition of sexual harassment, and that’s shocking,” said the actor who attended. at the BAFTA. Life in Pictures talk celebrating her career where she talked about her career and her experience in the industry.
The 32-year-old actress earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Kayla Pospisil in Bombshell, which was based on accounts of women working at Fox News who slam CEO Roger Ailes for alleged sexual harassment. Margot added that she was “horrified” at how little she knew about sexual harassment before making the film, adding that such behaviors “thrive in the gray area”. She added: “The situation is not black and white.”
Margot admitted she signed on to the film to learn more about blind spots when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace. “One of the lines that shocked me when I first read the script was that sexual harassment includes all unwanted sexual advances.” says the actor. “I always thought it took physical contact for it to be considered illegal or wrong.” The actor discussed the character of Kayla who was the film’s only fictional creation alongside names like Megyn Kelly (played by Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (played by Nicole Kidman). “The second I could stop being Kayla, I did,” the actor said. “It was definitely something I wanted to exploit in the end.”
In the chat, Margot also touched on the fact that she’s only worked with one female director in her career so far, with Josie Rourke for Mary, Queen of Scots. The actress said she saw no difference between men and women as directors and “couldn’t attribute it to gender”.
Margot Robbie is currently in London as part of the press tour to promote her new film Babylon directed by Damien Chazelle, which is due out at the end of the year. She also has Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie.
