Margot Robbie was convinced she’d stumbled upon an unknown talent when she watched Sebastian Stan’s audition tape for I, Tonya.
The Australian actress produced the biopic and had the luxury of knowing she’d nailed the lead role when she sat down to pick out her movie husband and the rest of her supporting cast.
“With Sebastian’s tape coming through, I was like, ‘Who is this unknown actor I’ve never seen before? This tape is incredible!'” she recalls.
“Then I IMDb’d (website International Movie Database) him and I was like, ‘Whoa, it’s the guy in the Gossip Girl TV shows and Marvel movies, are you kidding me?’ He just totally transformed.”
Watching the audition tapes was one of the things Margot most enjoyed about producing the movie, in which she portrays embattled figure skater Tonya Harding.
“That was a real guilty pleasure… I felt like I was doing something really naughty by watching them,” Robbie smiles. “I’ve done a million audition tapes and I always get the feeling they’re gonna nit pick me and say, ‘What is she wearing?’, or make fun of me or whatever.
“Now I’m on the other side and can say, ‘Oh yeah, everybody does watch the audition tapes and they’re pretty harsh!’ It was pretty terrifying… But that was so exciting to discover being on the other side.”
