STACK NZ Mar #60

interview

CINEMA

With Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese on the set of The Wolf of Wall Street

With Will Smith in Focus

Margot Robbie is currently taking Hollywood by storm. With the talent, the looks – her legs alone were scene-stealers in The Wolf of Wall Street – and the drive to climb the ladder of LaLaLand, the Aussie native moved from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, aged 17 and determined to act professionally. Before long she was securing small roles in feature films before the call up came from Neighbours , the starting block for many a local starlet. Since leaving behind her soap alter ego Donna Freedman, the past few years have seen Robbie frolic nude with Leonardo DiCaprio, work her wings as a stewardess in Pan Am, and hit the big screen with Will Smith in the upcoming comedy-thriller FOCUS.

Margot Robbie will next been seen as the last woman on Earth in the post- apocalypse drama Z for Zachariah , based on the 1974 young adult novel by Robert C. O'Brien. Farm girl Anne Burden believes she is alone, sheltered from the nuclear armageddon by an idyllic mountain valley. But she soon has company, when a pair of male strangers (Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor) emerge from the forest.

of Angels. "I've met quite a few people from back home in Los Angeles and it's been good for me to be able to talk to other actors about their experiences of coming to LA and establishing themselves," she says. The actress also admits, "I prefer living in London, although I've spent a lot of time working in the US," – she was based in the English capital filming the upcoming Tarzan . I got to be pretty good at stealing a watch while someone's wearing it

"I 'm enjoying every moment of this time in my life,” says Margot Robbie. "I've been working pretty much non-stop and it's been so much fun." Her current work is what she's "spent years preparing for", and even as a dramatic child she had a loyal home audience. "I was always performing for my mum," she laughs. "I spent a lot of time watching videos and memorising scenes that I would re-enact in the kitchen while my mum was wondering what I was going on about. But that discovered when filming her latest blockbuster, Focus . The blonde actress plays Jess Barrett, an ambitious young pickpocket who receives on-the- job training from Will Smith's Nicky Spurgeon, a conman planning a big heist. Not one to slack off during work hours, Robbie took it upon herself to learn the tricks of the trade. "I got to be pretty good at stealing a watch while someone's wearing it," she grins. "I don't know if that's necessarily a talent you should be proud of, but every film teaches you something!" Robbie's work has taken her far from home, but she's found an Aussie community in the City was my early training and I just kept at it." Practice makes perfect, as Robbie also

in a commercial for the company when acting took over. "I was really good at Chicken Teriyaki and Meatball subs. I take great pride in my sub skills and whenever I go to Subway and watch someone else prepare my sandwich, I'm always tempted to go behind the counter and show people how to do it properly!" she laughs. When it comes to acting, however, Robbie turns to Cate Blanchett for a role model. "She's done such excellent work and been in so many great films while being able to enjoy a very quiet private life,” she explains. “You never read anything about her in the tabloids and I would like to follow that approach and keep my personal life as private as possible." Blanchett is indeed an admirable role model – but what are her sandwich skills like?

While life today is "a very different kind of life from what I was used to in Australia," if she's ever between jobs, Robbie knows there's one trans- continental company with whom she's already got experience – anyone fancy a Subway? "I was a sandwich artist!" she reveals, and she even starred

Focus is in cinemas on March 5

13