Margot Robbie on the leaked Barbie photos: we were mortified

Margot Robbie is doing the rounds for her new project Amsterdam. I’m really torn on that film because the cast is amazing, and it looks like something I would enjoy but I’m loathe to support David O. Russell. Margot had nothing but wonderful things to say about him on The Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon, though. I guess she was spared from his infamous rage.

Jimmy asked Margot about the on-set Barbie photos that went viral. While filming the Greta Gerwig film with her Ken, Ryan Gosling, the paparazzi caught the duo in their neon finest and the internet couldn’t get enough. When Jimmy asked Margot about it, she said she was “mortified” by the pics and the crowds that followed created “the most humiliating moment of (her) life.” Huh.

“Barbie” lead star and producer Margot Robbie revealed she was “mortified” at the viral set photos of her dressed in character alongside co-star Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken. During “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” Robbie opened up about the leaked production pictures while promoting David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam.”

“I can’t tell you how mortified we were, by the way,” Robbie said. “We look like we’re like laughing and having fun, but dying on the inside. Dying. I was like, this is the most humiliating moment of my life.”

Host Jimmy Fallon asked Robbie if she realized the “Barbie” photos would be dissected over the internet upon release.

“No!” Robbie said. “I mean, I knew that we had some exteriors to shoot in L.A. I knew, OK, once you were doing exteriors, you’re gonna get papped. There’s probably going to be a little crowd of people who are going to stand out, because, you know, we stand out a little bit in those outfits. So I knew there was going to be a little bit of attention, and probably some photos would get out there, but not like it did. It was like mad. It was like hundreds of people watching.”

[From Yahoo]

I had to watch the clip after I saw the headlines talking about how humiliated Margot was to see if she was joking. They were filming on the Venice Boardwalk which is almost never empty. Half the people there dress in costume, and some just to hang out. Plus, anyone who lives in LA gets used to seeing things filmed. They were filming All Rise at my kids’ high school during their registration last month. We had to check in with the studio guys about whether we needed the makeup trailer or textbooks. So people in LA are unfazed by two beautiful, well-built blondes in leotards on roller-skates. But surely Margot knows that. And she knows this movie will be played before, hopefully, thousands if not millions of people, right? I’m so confused by what humiliated her. She was laughing with Jimmy as she said it so maybe she was just trying to acknowledge that those were wild outfits. Because honestly, those photos did more to generate a buzz for the film than any marketing campaign.

Thank goodness Ryan is leaning into his Kenergy.


Photo credit: Instar, Backgrid, Cover Images and Barbie Movie

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29 Responses to “Margot Robbie on the leaked Barbie photos: we were mortified”

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  1. girl_ninja says:

    She needs to be mortified by that 80’s Katie Keen cosplaying dress she was wearing the other day. The Barbie pics are for a movie, ain’t no thing.

    • BeanieBean says:

      You beat me to it! I would have been way more mortified to show up at any event in that Alessandra Rich monstrosity.

    • Persephone says:

      Yeah I don’t know what to think of that dress…
      The Barbie costumes were as I would expect though.

    • Fuzzy Crocodile says:

      Same thought!

    • Dierski says:

      You said my thoughts exactly, girl_ninja!!! As I was scrolling I almost gasped at how frumpy she looks there!!

      Love the rollerblade looks myself, that yellow/green is BLINDING in the best way… 😂

  2. Seraphina says:

    100% agree Hectate. And if anything those outfits are awesome, that second pic of the dress- now that’s another story.

  3. Seraphina says:

    @GN, thank you!!! I saw that dress and was like THATS A KATE DRESS except for the low neckline. Gotta Hollywood it though. I read your comment and rolled out laughing!

  4. Michael says:

    Those leaks were the only thing that got my attention and kind of made me want to see the movie. It looks hilarious

  5. MrsBanjo says:

    Russell sexually assaulted his teenage trans niece and fully admitted it, blaming her, of course. Regardless of how stacked the cast is, I refuse to see Amsterdam. Fuck that guy.

  6. mj says:

    I assumed the photos were circulating on purpose because they were such fantastic PR. They created so much positive buzz for a movie that people had been somewhat skeptical about if it was on their radar at all.

    • Lens says:

      Yeah I thought it was on purpose because there were SO MANY pictures. I mean many films shooting in LA get street shots leaked but this was day after day in daily mail. I still can’t imagine a script that gets all those actors to want to do it (not to mention in demand director) and it is about Barbie? Not that I’m interested to begin with but these pictures didn’t make me want to see it more. I mean Amy Schumer was the original one to have the role so I guess it’s a comedy.

  7. WiththeAmerican says:

    Obvious PR b.s. right up there with “I was discovered at the drug store counter!”

  8. Becks1 says:

    If those pictures humiliated her, what’s the movie going to do??

    (I think it looks fun and campy based on these pics, it made me want to see it too.)

    • SarahCS says:

      That’s what I don’t understand. You know we’re all going to see you dressed like that when the movie comes out?? What a strange angle to take.

    • tealily says:

      Does she mean that the rest of the movie maybe isn’t quite this out there? I still have no idea what this movie even is.

    • DouchesOfCambridge says:

      Mortified? Most humiliating thing in her life? Quite dramatic lady here… this feels like she has a pretty barbie-like superficial life if she was mortified by this, being AN ACTRESS and has never felt more humiliated than being watched in a COSTUME, again, AS AN ACTRESS. I’m rolling my eyes to full extension here

  9. Ceci says:

    Well, if that’s the most humiliating thing that ever happened to her, she’s had a pretty charmed life…

    People are going to see her wearing those costumes in the movie anyways so not sure what she’s going on about?

    • Danbury says:

      Yes this makes her sound really annoying. Of all the things in life you find humiliating, this is it? You signed up for this movie, you wore the costumes … so …
      I suddenly like her much less

    • Jennifer says:

      Um, you signed up to be in THE BARBIE MOVIE. What did you expect? People are going to see an ENTIRE MOVIE of you in outfits like that. So what’s so bad about an early neon photo? If that’s so embarrassing, you didn’t have to book the gig.

  10. lunchcoma says:

    That is a weird thing to be mortified by. I had the dubious honor of working in an office in NYC near where the first Sex and the City movie was filming, and there were lawyers and investment bankers who watched out their window as Sarah Jessica Parker walked down the street 20 different times.

    I would assume that this wouldn’t be a unique filming process and that there would be plenty of other occasions where filming was done on location and outside. These costumes are on the silly side, but they’re certainly not the silliest I’ve ever seen. I don’t know. This seems like part of the job.

    • tealily says:

      Ha! I also happened upon the cast of the first Sex and the City movie walking down the sidewalk 20 times on a visit to New York during the same time period.

  11. Owlsyn (is more of a Skipper) says:

    What an odd, confusing and sort of off-putting thing to say.

    Bright outfits for a movie that looks like campy, over the top fun? That some people poked fun at but a lot of other people embraced with “I had that same outfit for my Barbie in 1992!” love? That’s … humiliating? The word choice makes it seem like Margot didn’t realize or wasn’t on board with the tone of the movie being zany instead of something serious….. maybe?

    It’s weird because she hasn’t spoken in the past like she has to suffer for her art or like she takes herself too seriously. I hope she realizes she has no reason to be embarrassed.

  12. QuiteContrary says:

    She signed up to play Barbie. What movie did she think she was making? A gritty, black-and-white film about Barbie’s secret trauma?

    • usedtobehappy21 says:

      Right!?? Mortified by photos of you in an awesome neon Barbie outfit for the Barbie movie you are making?!?? I do not for a second get the comments about being humiliated or mortified. What happens when the movie comes out and we see many more mortifying moments by you? Very odd response.

  13. Coco says:

    Does she know what the words humiliated or mortified mean? She know what the movie was about when she signed up for it and looked at herself in the mirror in the costume. Also did she think the studio was going to throw millions of dollars at this movie and have it never been seen?

  14. Dillesca says:

    Margot Robbie leads a blessed life if looking AMAZING as Barbie and Ken mortifies her. Kind of sounds like Hot Girl Doesn’t Know What To Talk About On a Talkshow.

  15. rawiya says:

    Mortified? Girl, we all knew it was for a movie. I feel bad for Chris Pine in his Poolman costume (the pics where he looks like he’s cosplaying Diane Keaton) and Tom Holland (I forget which movie he’s filming, but he had bad clothes and bad hair going on), because in both those cases, people weren’t actually sure if they were in costume or just dressed that way for fun. 99% of people thought that Chris Pine was just out that day in that outfit! I think Kaiser’s post about it wasn’t even sure whether it was for the movie or not. That’s “mortifying.”

  16. SAS says:

    I normally enjoy it when actors acknowledge how silly their job can be, which I *think* is what she was going for here, but she overshot with the language and seemingly by focusing on the costumes being embarrassing, considering how incredibly well received they were.