The Greatest Role Margot Robbie’s Ever Played: Producer
PC: Neil Phan '26
A rookie to Hollywood, she was only known as “that blonde” alongside industry titan Martin Scorsese and seasoned actor Leonardo Dicaprio in the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” A decade later, she played the world’s most popular doll in 2023’s highest-grossing movie. Finding insurmountable success in front of and behind the camera while simultaneously escaping the blonde bombshell typecast, she went from “Who’s that actress?” to “Who doesn’t know that actress?” She did the unthinkable. Her name is Margot Robbie.
It all began in 2013. After getting drunk at the “The Wolf of Wall Street” premiere, Robbie spontaneously decided to move to London with her childhood friend from Queensland, Australia, Sophia Kerr, her assistant director boyfriend (now husband), Tom Ackerley, and his peer, Josey McNamara. It was in that house and between those four that the idea to start a production company was born. Founded in 2014, LuckyChap Entertainment’s focal point is female-focused and female-driven projects — an aim Robbie and her team have stayed true to ten years later.
“I, Tonya,” a dark comedy retelling the life of American figure skater Tonya Harding, infamous for her association with the 1994 attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan, was released in 2017. The movie garnered numerous accolades, including a Critics’ Choice Award for Robbie as Harding and a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar for Allison Janney, who played LaVona Harding, Tonya’s estranged mother. The success LuckyChap Entertainment found with their first major motion picture made a splash in Hollywood and set the bar high for their future productions, which they have continued to raise with each release.
In 2019, the company began venturing into television production with the release of comedy series “Dollface” on Hulu, starring an ensemble cast of Kat Dennings, Brenda Song, Shay Mitchell, and Esther Povitsky. Jordan Weiss was just 26 years old when “Dollface” was released, which was also the first show she ever created. In 2020, Robbie reprised her role as Harley Quinn, who formed an all-female superhero team after being dumped by the Joker in Suicide Squad’s sequel “Birds of Prey.” The movie was directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Cathy Yan and written by Taiwanese-British screenwriter Christina Hodson. Robbie partnered with Hodson to create a screenwriting lab to boost the careers of female writers called “Lucky Exports Pitch Program,” Six writers, four of whom were women of color, collaborated and workshopped ideas for various film projects, all of which were sold to major distributors. Later that year, LuckyChap Entertainment released “Promising Young Woman.” Directed by actress and first-time director Emerald Fennell and starring Carey Mulligan, the movie told a story of a troubled woman trying to get revenge for her friend who was sexually assaulted and committed suicide as a result. It won an Academy Award and two BAFTAS. The first film where she was strictly behind the camera, Robbie explains in an interview with “The Hollywood Reporter,” “We never started a company to be a starring vehicle for me… It was really that we wanted to expand what female stories and female storytellers could do in this industry, and I don’t need to be onscreen for that to happen. But it’s a wonderful position to be in since my platform can also open some of those doors… there were a lot of first- and second-time filmmakers that we wanted to work with, and you can’t get something greenlit without a bankable name attached and I’m so lucky to fall into that bracket [of bankable names].”
Though LuckyChap Entertainment was already remarkably accomplished, 2023 was a massive year for them, proving they aren’t a one-hit wonder and are here to stay. A cinematic standout of that year, Greta Gerwig’s feminist take on “Barbie” is in the running for many awards and made history, becoming the first movie directed by a woman to gross over $1 billion. Emerald Fennell continued working with LuckyChap Entertainment for her second directional feature, the eccentric and racy thriller “Saltburn.” Starring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, the film has taken social media by storm, even reviving the 2000s disco-pop hit “Murder On The Dancefloor.” LuckyChap Entertainment’s future is just as starry and bright, including but not limited to the upcoming adaptation of the viral psychological fiction novel “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and “Naughty,” a Christmas comedy directed by Olivia Wilde.
At just 33 years old, Margot Robbie has already cemented herself as a Hollywood icon simply through her acting roles alone, but what she has done for women in an industry that is unbelievably difficult to break into is absolutely incredible. There is no doubt that Margot Robbie is one of the greats, leaving her mark on Hollywood whilst opening the door for other women to join her too.
