Ever since I, Tonya premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, I’ve been dying to see it. The critics flat-out loved it, and it’s currently sitting at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. I, Tonya tells the story of Tonya Harding, her husband Jeff and the Nancy Kerrigan assault. Tonya is not a complete villain nor a completely sympathetic figure, and the film is apparently full of meaty, interesting roles for the actors (Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney). Anyway, the movie doesn’t come out until December, prime Oscar-bait timing. For now, we’ll have to make due with this teaser trailer:
I’m into it. I’m into it even though I’m sort of side-eyeing her accent work. Like, I believe in Margot Robbie and I think she’s got a good ear for accents. Aussies are usually pretty good at American accents overall, but I don’t know what the hell is happening here. But everything else… the look, the fried bangs, the smoking, the trashy vibe. I love it. I’m sure some people aren’t sold though. I’m sure some people will argue that we don’t need a movie about an ice skating villainess and her douchebag husband. To that I say… please, if the story was just about trashy men, this movie would have been made years ago, and it would have gotten Mark Wahlberg an Oscar. There’s classism at play, and there’s an inability to see a woman as a textured character, at parts darkly comedic and genuinely pathetic, talented and insecure, abusive and abused. I love that this is what Margot Robbie chose to do, and this is how she wanted to use the goodwill and Hollywood “capital” she had banked up.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I cannot wait. Even as a native New Englander I was a Tonya fan. I think Margot is incredibly talented, she should have been nominated for her Wolf Of Wall Street role. If Jennifer Lawrence played that role she would have been nominated and she would have WON.
I agree and I like the fact Margot has chosen such different roles to play so far, from Naomi La Paglia to Tonya. She is very talented imho.
Agreed. JLaw is reaching Meryl Streep levels getting nominated for bad roles.
And she DID get nominated for a wolf of wall street role…for Jlaw it was American Hustle. Ironically her accent was awful in that movie
I looked on imdb.com on wolf of wall street and only actors listed for oscar nominations are leo and Jonah hill. What site says she was nominated. I do agree Margot will get nomination for I tonya.
Except, the difference between Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie is that Jennifer Lawrence has been critically acclaimed long before she became a household name.
In other words, Lawrence is a real actress, Robbie is not-she needs an army of PR people to pay off everyone and their brother to give her credibility.
That’s because Harvey launched Jennifer’s career, and there’s nary a word from her in the wake of the scandal.
She already said what she had to say. JLaw made a statement. The actresses are victims no matter the nature of their relationships. Without his power, not one of these actresses would have had anything to do with him, so it was coercive either way.
I just think the best thing is to accept that any actress who worked with him was victimized by him in some way. It didn’t have to be sexual. He found a way to exert himself over them.
(…please, if the story was just about trashy men, this movie would have been made years ago, and it would have gotten Mark Wahlberg an Oscar)
So true.
I don’t know how to feel about this. It looks bonkers and I’ll watch it but … the woman is around and will most likely not be portrayed in a kind light. Not sure that she can expect that either after what happened but it feels like she’s been punished enough? I don’t know. Maybe not.
The skating looks bad though.
Wait, it said hilarious. Is it supposed to be a dramaedy? Maybe that’s why Sebastian Stan made that joke.
But I can’t buy Robbie as Tonya. They tried to play down her looks but all I see is a pretty girl with bad hair plus Tonya had some junk in her trunk and as my brother says, she was thick.
I tend to agree lmn… I also wonder how Nancy Kerrigan feels about it? She gets attacked and seriously injured, and now it is a comedy?
Though I guess the same could be said for “To Die For” and I loved that movie so…
I saw this last night and it was so good! It is funny and kitschy in just the right way, but it is also seriously portrays abuse in a pretty disturbing way. They’ve walked a very fine line with this, and I’m not sure how they pulled it off but I really enjoyed it. Tonya comes off as sympathetic but not blameless. It was a fascinating movie. I can’t stop thinking about it.
Also, interestingly enough, Nancy Kerrigan was barely in it. I don’t think she even had any lines.
Actually Loudon Wainwright III wrote a song about her in 1999 that addresses a lot of this, only he did it in under 3 minutes instead of in a two-hour movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RG6X2n-THM
I went to look up that song, “Tonya’s Twirls”…omg… it’s that whole episode in a nutshell! Perfection.
Well, they must not have known about that song or I’m sure they would have chucked the whole project for being redundant.
Haven’t watched the trailer but how could this be anything other than a Lifetime movie of the week?
Agree.
Exactly.
yeah this is getting such hype which I dont’ understand. it seeems so lifetimey trash for a weekend iwth ice cream, not oscar worthy *though lets be honest, the oscars are so sketchy. if you want to talk about caliber acting that doesnt rely on looks, lets talk frances mcdormand in three billboards outsie ebbing missouri. that looks fucking fantastci. shes a legit actress. im sorry but if margot robbie wasnt mainstream pretty, she would not be getting roles. this over hyping of mediocre talent is getting old
She’s actually a fantastic actress. I think her skills consistently get attacked because of her looks.
I am all for talent. Nevertheless, I have never seen proof of Margot Robbie being a bad actress. She has been good in everything I’ve seen her in.
Totally
hollywood is so up its own ass. mediocre passes for “brilliance” these days and quality talent is overlooked. this could be a fun trashy watch, but oscar worthy? doubt it. also found it super odd that robbie would say she was “100% on tonya’s side” because planning a physical attack on another woman is totally acceptable, right? robbie is hollywoods newest version of fetch, stop pushing it. would love to see an oscar year with real talent beyond the typical Hollywood bubble of “talent” no jlaw, robbie, meryl etc. way better actors out there doing great work
I’d say reserve your judgement until you’ve seen it, or at least watched the trailer (seriously?).
trailer is edited well but doesn’t show much. despite a lot of hype on this one. im basing my opinions on the trailer AND her previous work. overall i dont think she is a good actress. she’s not terrible but definitely mediocre. thats the thing about anything artistic, there is no real definitive ranking, its all opinion so we are all right. lets be honest, the oscars are not nearly as meaningful as they used to be. same with walk of fame. its all hype and less about real talent and performance. (mainstream popularity over performance) same with music, selena gomez can sell out concerts but cant actually sing to save her life. yet here we are. you have to admit that most of success in these industries has very little to do with actual talent.
@courtney, I was mostly replying to Pandy. I saw the film last night and really enjoyed it. It’s the first thing I’ve seen Robbie in and I thought she did a good job, but the film as a whole was excellent. As far as the “100% on Tonya’s side” comment… Tonya didn’t actually attack Kerrigan herself, and there are questions about what exactly she knew about the attack before it happened. The film does a good job exploring this, so I won’t say too much here. While Tonya doesn’t come out of it looking rosy exactly, I think Robbie’s commenting on the idea that Harding faced rough punishment, both legally and in the public eye, for something that she may have had little knowledge of, perpetrated by her abusive ex-spouse.
Thanks for the heads up, tealily. I might just have to check this out now.
I reserve judgment until I see it. But I trust what you said and will watch it. I have liked Margot in everything I have seen.
Would you have called this a Lifetime movie if the story was about a man?
I really like Robbie.
The teaser trailer gave me “To Die For” vibes
Take my money.
Oh, To Die For is a totally underrated movie. Not a huge Kidman fan but she ROCKED that role.
Right? To Die For is one of my favorite movies from the 90s.
It actually made me a fan of Kidman’s acting (still am today).
Yes this exactly! To Die For is a good film with strong work from Nicole Kidman.
What on earth is this accent? I’m from Oregon and um…I don’t get it.
I’m a Southerner who used to live in Oregon and that accent bothers me as well, it’s just as off-putting as bad Southern accents. Hollywood can’t seem to get a grip on those things for some reason. I’m SO here this movie tho, lol.
lazy indeed. takes away from the performance. isnt that what dialect coaches are for?
Lol… she sounds like her character from Wolf of Wall Street
That accent got annoying towards the middle of the movie
I like Margot as an actress — but her dialect coach should be returning his paycheck. I’m from a working class family in Chicago — and her accent kinda sorta sounds like it might be a bad take on a nasal Chicago accent. Like on par with the level of parody on the old Bears skits on SNL.
But having spent time in Oregon and knowing lots of native Oregonians, I can’t say I’ve ever heard an accent like that come out of that neck of the woods. I think there is some Hollywood classism at work here — the idea that all blue collar people around the country sound the same.
It sounds like the same accent that she used in Wolf of Wall Street.
I will be seeing this – i remember when this all happened and yeah Tonya was as trashy as she is portrayed.
I love Robbie – she was great in Suicide Squad.
A little OT, but at least in my experience so true what you say about Aussies picking up American accents really well. I can’t mimic my BF’s accent to save my life, but when he attempts mine I’m shocked lol. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they listen and watch a lot of the same shows, music, and celebs we do.
The Aussie accent in general is very versatile as well. We have a pretty homogenous national accent and it tends to lend itself pretty well to being reshaped. Any Aussie living in the UK for a few months proves that, they all end up sounding like locals.
I saw it last night and was stunned at how remarkable the three lead performances (Robbie, Stan, and Janney) are… if there was any justice in the world, all three would earn nominations for this one.
I’ll bet I was at the same screening as you!
I, too, really want to see this. This role could be a turning point in Margot’s career.
I don’t understand the shoes she’s wearing in the photo of her in the black dress. One is jeweled and the other is not. ???
I’m really looking forward to this film. I remember this incident so well. I turned to my now ex husband said, “Wouldn’t it be weird if somehow Tonya Harding is behind this?” Not kidding!
The shoes! That’s what I got too. I’m meh on the film.
Probably the jewel strip just came off of one.
I thought the bejeweled portion may have fallen off?
They look to be similar to what Kidman wore at the Emmys, so the other shoe would have the bejewelling on the ankle strap.
Watched the trailer yesterday and agree this is going to be interesting. Between this and playing Elizebeth 1 she’s doing some hopefully good work.
I wanted to see this before the trailer…but wtf is the accent? And it’s not very believable with someone so pretty playing Tonya. But I’m still curious.
Margot Robbie can do 1 american accent and that’s it. She does that accent well, but it doesn’t always fit for the role. That portland accent? So weird and off.
Still going to see this though. And Sebastian Stan as Jeff G? YES.
I’ll enjoy this…should it win an Oscar? No I don’t think so. I’m over mediocre character pieces. Plus we have a LOT of oscar movies to roll out in the coming months
yessssssssssss
Oscar race didn’t start yet. This may get Robbie a nomination but i doubt it will get a lot of noms. We’ll see though. This is just a teaser maybe trailer will be better.
This should be fun. I liked Tony’s enough, but Nancy is one of my all-time favorite figure skaters even to this day.
The accent is really off putting, but it could just be because I’ve never gotten on the Margot Robbie hype train thing. She’s just a boring JLaw to me (who also can’t do accents).
For some reason her actual voice rather than the accent itself bothers me in this trailer.
She also seems older in this movie than Tonya was when this happened. This trailer makes it seem like a middle-aged lady was gunning for Nancy’s knee.
I still find her an odd choice for Tanya – a lot of classism and sexism is tied up in Harding’s story, none of which I really see in somebody as glamorous as Margot, but we’ll see. If it hits the right tone between tragic and absurd, it’ll do fine as a film, and it’ll be a great opportunity to examine class discrepancies and prejudice as they play out across the media.
I want to see this but the what is with her accent & speech pattern? The voice over sounds odd. I hope the movie dialogue is better.
Harding is trash and a embarrassment to Oregonians.
This should be interesting…
Yeah…I totally do not find this interesting at all. But clearly I’m in the minority there.
@themummy you and me both lol might i suggest three billboards outside ebbing missouri? looks incredible from the trailer alone. also, the florida project in limited release supposed to be so well done
I cannot WAIT to see this!!! We will see the raunch of that time period, Tonya Harding with all of her colorful thick hair scrunchies, a mean scowl and a ton of cigarette butts. LOL!
Not interested at all. I’ve seen the coverage and interviews and shows that have analyzed it twelve ways from Wednesday. I don’t see this being a big draw.
No. This will not get an Oscar. I agree with Courtney. She’s a mediocre actress that can only play one role and can only use one accent.
Exactly!…Robbie is a terrible actress and the real buzz on this “film” is that it’s actually awful, but that so many people have been paid off to hype this trash.
Case in point: take a look at the views on YouTube for the trailer-how in Gods name was this trash trending so quickly with under a million views at the time???. Neon has paid off a ton of people, that’s how.
Most of her hype is because of her looks and because she got nude in her first film. I think people just dont want to admit it or see past it. If you look at any movie shes on most of the comments are about her looks and not about her abilities as an actress. She literally has been playing slightly different variations of the SAME ROLE since TWOWS.
“if the story was just about trashy men, this movie would have been made years ago, and it would have gotten Mark Wahlberg an Oscar.”
The offhand brilliance of this observation is why I keep coming back to this site. Too true. Brava Kaiser!
Oscar-bait? Concentrate on making a great film and the Oscars will take care of themselves.
Everyone remember Neon??…they are the ones that knew about that creep Harry Knowles and did nothing…
I’m down for this because it’s Sebastian Stan and I’d literally sit through three hours of a dog scratching its ass along the carpet if Sebastian was seen in several shots smoking a cigarette and shaking his head in disgust.
If this is a decent movie, all the better.