Margot Robbie Explains Why She Loves Playing Harley Quinn

Margot Robbie may be known by some people due to her excellent performances in The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I, Tonya, among others, but she has fallen in love—and the audience loves her—while playing the psychopathic, baseball bat-wielding Harley Quinn.

First depicting Quinn in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, Robbie has returned to the character twice since in Birds of Prey (2020) and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, a standalone sequel to the 2016 movie. The Australian-born actress explained in an interview with British Vogue why she is often drawn back to portraying Quinn.

“I’m painted white and I’ve got a wig on, got a crazy costume on and this Brooklyn accent,” Robbie said. “Even on a weekend when I’m out with friends, sometimes [Quinn] pops up and I’ll be like, ‘Right then, I’m gonna put a lid on that.’”

Being able to play a character so different from herself, a 31-year-old that suffers from migraines and sleeps with a toy named Bunny, gives Robbie a unique avenue to express herself. She also has found that roles like playing Harley Quinn are the ones that pay the most, which she says drives her to bring more women into action films.

“From a business or statistical standpoint, those are the high-paying jobs. So I really want to advocate for women writing big blockbuster action films. And then also, the perception that women aren’t interested in action is ridiculous.”

She also said that the scenes in action films are unlike any other, saying the moments in which a hero runs with explosions in the background are few and far between for “girls.”

The Suicide Squad, which stars Idris Elba, John Cena, Sylvester Stallone, and Viola Davis, in addition to Robbie as Harley Quinn, is set to debut in theaters in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2021, before releasing on Aug. 6 in the United States. The film will also be available on the HBO Max streaming service for the first month after release.