Margot Robbie has said she still can’t work out why people “hated” 2022 flop Babylon, saying: “I don’t get it“.
READ MORE: ‘Babylon’ review: razzle dazzle meets rock debauchery in Old Hollywood epic
Robbie appeared on the Talking Pictures Podcast, which you can listen to below, and expressed her continued disbelief that the film flopped at the cinema.
Co-starring Brad Pitt and directed by La La Land Oscar winner Damian Chazelle, the film centered on the silent movie stars of 1920s Hollywood. The film cost $80million (£63million) to make, but made just $15million (£11.8million) at the domestic US box office and $63million worldwide (£50million).
When podcast host Ben Mankiewicz said he didn’t understand why people didn’t like Babylon, Robbie responded: “I am still saying that.”
She added: “I love it. I don’t get it either. I know I am biased because I am very close to the project and I obviously believe in it, but I still can’t figure out why people hated it. I wonder if in 20 years people are going to be like, ‘Wait, Babylon didn’t do well at the time?’ Like when you hear that Shawshank Redemption was a failure at the time and you’re like like, ‘How is that possible?’”
Robbie starred as rising star Nellie LaRoy in the film, who was inspired by the real-life star Clara Bow.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Robbie also opened up about working with director Damian Chazelle and her fond memories of making the film.
“Damian is so thorough,” Robbie continued. “Do you know what I loved so much about working with him? I felt like no one had really put their foot to the floor with the gas, but he wanted that all the time. He wanted more always. Even when we were prepping.
“When we were trying to figure out what the accent should be for that character, I gave him 51 different versions of an accent. It was like doing a one woman show. We started off with like Boston. Nellie is from Boston. Here’s what she sounds like if she’s from Arkansas. Then I got specific. Here is Nellie if she was a mixture of Snookie from the ‘Jersey Shore’ and Joe Pesci. Now I’m going to be a little bit of Fran Drescher mixed with Snookie. This is how specific we got. At one point I counted all the voice things I offered him at that point and it was 51.”
While cinema-goers turned away from the film, it also divided film critics. NME awarded the film three stars and said: “The story itself starts to go skew-whiff…Every character kicks off their adventure with a well-written intro scene, adding sufficient layers which make the audience sympathise and care about what they do next. As the film continues toward its bloated 189-minutes (!) runtime though, some of these characters (Smart’s grumpy writer Elinore, Li Jun Li’s glamorous performer Lady Fay) almost disappear. It’s frustrating, and discourages the audience from engaging emotionally.
“That said, Robbie and Pitt still provide enough star-wattage to power most viewers to the end-credits. Babylon does babble on (sorry) past its natural conclusion, but what party ever ended when it was supposed to?”
Margot Robbie in ‘Babylon’. CREDIT: Paramount
In other news, earlier this month it was revealed that Robbie had given birth to her first baby with her husband and film producer Tom Ackerley.
It was also recently announced that Robbie will star with Jacob Elordi in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which is currently in pre-production and will begin filming in the UK next year.
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