The Bombshell revelation that rattled Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie and Oscar-winners Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman join forces to bust open attitudes to sexual harassment in acclaimed drama Bombshell. But there was one part of the script that left Robbie “so shocked”.
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There’s a pivotal scene in Bombshell to which, sadly, many women will relate.
The deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression splashed across Margot Robbie’s face once it becomes apparent that in order for her ambitious newbie at Fox News to succeed, she will have to participate in a sexual relationship with her boss, is indeed revelatory.
In her case, it was then-chairman, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) who reigned as chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Business Network and Fox Television Stations from 2005 until his involuntary resignation in 2016. His departure followed journalist Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against him for sexual harassment, which prompted scores more women to file their own complaints and report their own experiences.
“There were moments, like that scene where she was in Roger’s office, which is very disturbing and uncomfortable,” nods the Golden Globe nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
And though her character Kayla Pospisil is an amalgamation of several real-life characters at Fox, Robbie knew she was speaking for a multitude of women.
“I felt a great deal of responsibility to her as a character, but also to all the women that Kayla in the story represented.”
Most Millennials, like 29-year-old Robbie, have already seen countless perpetrators of such gross sexual misconduct in the workplace called out, a trend started in part by the likes of Ailes and other disgraced moguls like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
But they’re not all entirely au fait with what constitutes truly unacceptable behaviour, including Robbie.
“One of the lines that shocked me when I first read the script was that sexual harassment includes any unwelcome sexual advances,” the Gold Coast raised actor says.
“At the time #MeToo and the Time’s Up movement were in full swing and I realised that I didn’t know what sexual harassment was. I always thought it required physical contact for it to be considered illegal or wrong. That really shocked me. It really rattled me when I had that moment of recognition. And it was then that I knew I wanted to be a part of this movie.”
Charlize Theron did too, and was so passionate about the film, she ended up producing it too, in addition to taking a starring role.
Like Robbie, she earned a Golden Globe nod, for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama.
Such is Theron’s incredible physical transformation into Fox anchor Megyn Kelly that she hasn’t been this unrecognisable on screen since her Oscar-winning turn in 2003’s Monster.
Oscar-winning Aussie Nicole Kidman plays Gretchen Carlson, while the film is directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers films, Meet the Parents), and written by Charles Randolph, who won an Academy Award for his The Big Short screenplay.
And as much as outsiders have heard about the toxic atmosphere Ailes created at the network, there is much more shocking information to be discovered in the film.
“The conversation of sexual harassment has always been around, for as long as I can remember being a woman, which happens to be my whole life,” Theron says with a smile. “But it’s a different conversation today than it was even ten years ago. Women didn’t have access to that conversation previously because I don’t think anybody believed us.”
Certainly, the timing of the film’s release couldn’t be more serendipitous.
“We are at a time and place where so many women have bravely stepped forward to share their stories, and it’s because of that, that we have movements like Time’s Up and #MeToo. We realise this is a systemic problem so to make a movie like this, at this specific time, is really, really important,” she says.
“I’ve never been a part of something that’s been that synchronised. And I feel very lucky about the timing. We started before #MeToo or Time’s Up or the Harvey Weinstein saga, let alone [the accusations against] Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer. All that stuff was still yet to happen. And so it was kismet that we found this script at the time that we did and we wanted to make it immediately.”
Kidman jumped on board without hesitation when Theron approached her.
“I’ve always wanted to work with Charlize,” Kidman enthuses. “She’s incredibly smart, she’s a survivor and she’s a single mother. She’s worked hard to come to this country and build a career that is a formidable, extraordinary career. She’s deeply inspiring.”
On the subject of sexual harassment, Kidman says she thinks “every woman has encountered it in some way, shape or form”.
“How you talk about it, who you talk to about it, how you recover from it, how you deal with it, is deeply personal to each individual,” she says. “But a lot of it is making it safer for people so ultimately we have a safer world, a safer workplace. I’m raising two little girls right now so there’s a lot of conversation in our house about having the right to say no to many different things.”
And on a more personal note?
“Well, I don’t have deep, dark stories that I’m sitting on, I just don’t have pinnacle moments,” she says with a shake of her head. “I came to America and I started working.”
Kidman moved to Los Angeles in 1990 to star with the powerful and influential Tom Cruise in Days Of Thunder, and possibly missed such casting couch shenanigans as she quickly became his girlfriend.
“Look, I’ve definitely seen it,” she notes, “but I’m not going to talk about other people’s stories or reveal things that maybe they don’t want revealed.”
Theron is a huge fan of both her Australian leading ladies.
“Oh, I could talk about that for days. Where do you even start?” Theron laughs. “Nicole Kidman is an icon. She is somebody whose range has always been just so inspiring to me as an actor. She’s incredibly brave and vulnerable. She’s as good as it gets. I can’t believe I’m in a movie with her, I can’t believe she said yes. It was a little bit like a dream come true.
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“As for Margot, the tenacity that young girl has, to walk into this industry and to say, ‘I’m going to do this on my own terms’, right from the get-go, is something that I take my hat off to,” Theron raves.
“It’s been so impressive to watch how she’s navigated her career, not just as an actor, but as a producer, and that takes real bravery. You have to remember that we are not yet at a place where it’s open doors and welcoming for women,” she explains.
“Margot has done it so eloquently and so beautifully, and watching her is truly inspiring for many more women to come.”
Bombshell opens on Thursday.