Margot Robbie gets foul-mouthed in first behind-the-scenes footage from biopic I, Tonya

She's starring in a film detailing the scandalous attack on competitor Nancy Kerrigan ahead of the 1994 Olympics

Clarisse Loughrey
Monday 06 February 2017 16:15 GMT
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Margot Robbie's career has skyrocketed over the past couple of years; thanks to her scene-stealing turns in The Wolf of Wall Street and Suicide Squad, she's now officially a major Hollywood player.

I, Tonya may also be just the ticket to establish Robbie further in the realm of prestige drama, as she's currently filming the project in Canada; playing disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, in a biopic which covers her controversial life story.

Harding shot to international fame after overcoming a difficult childhood and poor background to rise up as one of ice skating's most successful figures, winning the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placing second in the World Championships, as well as becoming the first American woman to complete the triple axel jump in a major competition.

Only for that star to come crashing to the ground on the night of 6 January, 1994; when Harding's major rival, Nancy Kerrigan, was attacked as she stepped off the ice after a practice session. It was Harding's own husband, Jeff Gillooly, who had hired someone to break Kerrigan's leg so she would be unable to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

Kerrigan's leg was luckily left only bruised, not broken; still the media went wild, as Gillooly tried to shift the blame by testifying against his wife. He was jailed, though Harding avoided serving time by pleading guilty to conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers.


During this time, both Kerrigan and Harding were selected for the 1994 Olympic team; a recovered Kerrigan triumphing at the event and walking away with the silver medal, while a distracted and distressed Harding finished eighth.

With a plot that inherently dramatic, Robbie could be looking at an awards contender here; having already gone through the kind of physical transformation that the Academy Awards just can't resist, a first glimpse of her in action in some behind-the-scenes footage (courtesy of ET Canada) shows she's also delivering particularly tough, electric performance here.

Directed by Lars and the Real Girl's Craig Gillespie, I, Tonya also stars Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gilooly and Caitlin Carver as Nancy Kerrigan. No release date has been announced.

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