Margot Robbie has the ultimate movie star resume. From her breakthrough in The Wolf Of Wall Street, to her sensational performance in Barbie, she has always been a vision on screen, and Robbie’s filmography is full of innovative titles. This is also includes in her work as a producer, which sees her take on projects she really believes in, especially films with women behind the camera. Not every movie she’s made has been a critical success, despite the various wins she’s had. And Robbie is now opening up about what she thinks the actual marker of success is.
Robbie and her Wuthering Heights co-star, Jacob Elordi, recently sat down with Joel Edgerton for Vogue Australia. They had a wide-ranging conversation about their collaboration in Emerald Fennell’s book-to-screen adaptation as well as Robbie’s involvement as a producer. During the interview, the Babylon actress talked about how she sees the polarizing critical opinions surrounding WH and who she actually makes movies for:
I consider audience always. I’ve never, ever been on set and thought, ‘What are the critics going to think of this? I’m like, ‘What’s an audience going to feel right now? What’s their emotional response going to be?’
This makes complete sense. In the grand scheme of it all, critics are such a small part of a movie’s audience. The general public are mainly the ones paying to see a movie and make up the bulk of the viewing populace. So it’s understandable that Robbie would want to prioritize the actual audience going to see a film, rather than just critics. Robbie shared some additional thoughts on the subject:
I just believe you should make movies for the people who are going to buy tickets to see the movies. It’s kind of as simple as that.
Robbie’s desire to entertain general audiences certainly shows in the way she choose productions and the filmmakers she chooses to work with. To me, Fennell was a great creative for Robbie invest in when she started producing films. She has worked with Fennell on all three of her feature films, Promising Young Women, Saltburn, and now,, Wuthering Heights. Fennell’s artistic approach is very visuals driven, with an often violent, sexual undertone to some off-putting stories.
Despite the occasional perverseness of Fennell’s writing, there is something always interesting and intriguing about these films, and there are those who’ve come to enjoy her brand of storytelling. Robbie said of the filmmaker:
I love working with Emerald [Fennell] because she always prioritizes an emotional experience over a heady idea. She’s very smart. She’s got great ideas and all this kind of stuff, but she’ll let a cool idea fall by the wayside to offer the option that’s going to be most exciting for the audience. I really appreciate that about her.
Critics have been mixed on Fennell over the years, and Wuthering Heights’ mixed reception falls in line with this pattern. However, the 76% audience score that the film currently has on Rotten Tomatoes suggests there are certainly those who’ve enjoyed it. Also, the period film’s box office numbers have been relatively solid solid. This “audience-first” mentality seems to be serving both Fennell and Robbie well as collaborators. I personally can’t wait to see what they do next together and how they chose to expand their audience while also appealing to the fans they already have.
You can see Margot Robbie in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, which is currently in theaters nationwide. Fans of this collaboration should also check out Saltburn, which was produced under Robbie’s Lucky Chap production banner and is available with a Prime Video subscription.