Margot Robbie thought nobody would notice her in The Wolf Of Wall Street: ‘I’ll just slip under the radar’

Virgin Radio

6 Dec 2022, 11:08

The Wolf of Wall Street may have been Margot Robbie’s big Hollywood break, but the Australian actor has admitted that, at the time, she thought no-one would notice her in the film.

The former Neighbours star played Naomi Lapaglia alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2013 Martin Scorcese film about stockbroker Jordan Belfort. 

However, speaking at BAFTA: A Life In Pictures With Margot Robbie, she recalled (as reported by The Mirror): “I know this sounds silly now, knowing how big the movie became, but at the time I was like, ‘No one’s gonna notice me in this film. It doesn’t matter what I do in this film because they’re gonna focus on Leo and I’ll just slip under the radar.'”

The film was nominated for five Oscars and four BAFTAs, and it’s safe to say that people did notice Robbie’s performance. She has since gone on to star in the likes of Suicide Squad, Mary Queen of Scots, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and I, Tonya. Of the latter, she said: “It was the first time I watched a movie and went, 'OK, I'm a good actor.’”

Prior to heading to Hollywood, Robbie was already well known in her homeland of Australia, as she played the role of Donna Freedman in long-running soap Neighbours from 2008 to 2011. Having not gone to film school or drama school, she explained: “I attribute so much of who and what I am now to being on Neighbours.

“I learnt on the job. I did three years, some of the greatest years of my life. It was like they were my university years and my last day on Neighbours was like graduating.”

At the end of her stint on the soap, the actor wanted her character to be killed off “in a big spectacular death”, but the show’s bosses instead said they’d keep the door open for her just in case “it doesn’t work out in America”.

She explained: “I was like, ‘I love you all, but I’m gonna make it in America, I promise you. You don’t need to keep my job free!’” 

Next year, the Aussie plays the titular role in Barbie, by director Greta Gerwig. She is set to star alongside Ryan Gosling’s Ken.