When Robert Met Barbara
December 7, 2023 8:38 AM Subscribe
I've watched a lot of these Actors On Actors videos from Variety, but none of them have felt as truly interesting to me as Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie meeting for the first time and talking about the phenomenon that was Barbenheimer. 45m
I don't think I had an opinion about Margot Robbie before Barbie, I definitely do now
I've been very impressed with how Robbie has managed to build her career around not just being a conventional blonde bombshell type, but with directly subverting that image and using it as a way to pursue and make movies that embrace femininity and diversity under the guise of mainstream franchise films.
If you just look at the throughline for her portrayal of Harley Quinn in the DC Comics films, you can tell that she had a direct effect on how that character was developed for the later entries, taking the character from vaguely edgy eye candy in Suicide Squad to a solidly relatable/rootable anti-heroine in Birds of Prey and the Suicide Squad sequel.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:19 AM on December 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
I've been very impressed with how Robbie has managed to build her career around not just being a conventional blonde bombshell type, but with directly subverting that image and using it as a way to pursue and make movies that embrace femininity and diversity under the guise of mainstream franchise films.
If you just look at the throughline for her portrayal of Harley Quinn in the DC Comics films, you can tell that she had a direct effect on how that character was developed for the later entries, taking the character from vaguely edgy eye candy in Suicide Squad to a solidly relatable/rootable anti-heroine in Birds of Prey and the Suicide Squad sequel.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:19 AM on December 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
I think one weird tension in this conversation is that Robbie actually produced the Barbie film, meaning she conceived of the project and hired everyone involved in making it happen. It's literally something she willed into being, and while she let a lot of people shape it, she selected those people and backed their visions as if they were her own.
Murphy, on the other hand, is just a working actor. He's done a lot of work with Nolan across the years, but he's done a lot of other work and in this conversation it becomes pretty clear he's never really thought much about what it is to produce a movie. He's very content with being the face on the screen.
And most interestingly, by the end of the conversation, I think you can see that Robbie, the producer, is beginning to think about Murphy, the actor, as someone who she might have a new project for sometime soon.
posted by hippybear at 3:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
Murphy, on the other hand, is just a working actor. He's done a lot of work with Nolan across the years, but he's done a lot of other work and in this conversation it becomes pretty clear he's never really thought much about what it is to produce a movie. He's very content with being the face on the screen.
And most interestingly, by the end of the conversation, I think you can see that Robbie, the producer, is beginning to think about Murphy, the actor, as someone who she might have a new project for sometime soon.
posted by hippybear at 3:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [4 favorites]
okay that bit on dialects and aussie mouth shape vs american mouthshape, in particular, was pretty amazing.
This was great. I think my favorite one of these is still Jennifer Coolidge and Jeremy Allen White.
eta: that bit about the person with no introspection, also amazing. Humans are wild.
posted by hearthpig at 5:03 PM on December 7, 2023
This was great. I think my favorite one of these is still Jennifer Coolidge and Jeremy Allen White.
eta: that bit about the person with no introspection, also amazing. Humans are wild.
posted by hearthpig at 5:03 PM on December 7, 2023
Murphy, on the other hand, is just a working actor. He's done a lot of work with Nolan across the years, but he's done a lot of other work and in this conversation it becomes pretty clear he's never really thought much about what it is to produce a movie. He's very content with being the face on the screen.
Did you mean for that to sound dismissive? Maybe I took it the wrong way.
Also, just a heads up, Murphy became a producer of his tv show, Peaky Blinders. IMDB says he's producing and acting in an upcoming movie.
posted by LlamaHat at 7:18 PM on December 7, 2023
Did you mean for that to sound dismissive? Maybe I took it the wrong way.
Also, just a heads up, Murphy became a producer of his tv show, Peaky Blinders. IMDB says he's producing and acting in an upcoming movie.
posted by LlamaHat at 7:18 PM on December 7, 2023
My feeling was by the end of the conversation Robbie was going to talk to Murphy about getting a new season of Peaky Blinders up and going.
I was not meaning it to be dismissive. I was just going on how the conversation between them went, which felt very much like she was talking about things on a different level from him.
I mean, maybe it's a bit of a turn of events for the bombshell blonde to be spoken about as seeming to have more "there" there in an interview than a hot guy. It's just how I felt about the interview.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 PM on December 7, 2023
I was not meaning it to be dismissive. I was just going on how the conversation between them went, which felt very much like she was talking about things on a different level from him.
I mean, maybe it's a bit of a turn of events for the bombshell blonde to be spoken about as seeming to have more "there" there in an interview than a hot guy. It's just how I felt about the interview.
posted by hippybear at 7:28 PM on December 7, 2023
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I really like Cillian Murphy, and although I don't think I had an opinion about Margot Robbie before Barbie, I definitely do now!! Her American accent is impressive. (and she is so damn pretty. how can a person be so PRETTY???)
posted by supermedusa at 8:57 AM on December 7, 2023