margot robbie goes berserk in the trailer for Damien Chazelle’s epic ‘Babylon’. The Oscar nominee plays self-proclaimed “wild child” and up-and-coming actress Nellie LaRoy in a period piece set in the 1920s. The ‘La La Land’ director writes and directs the feature, which defines it as an ode to the “wild west” of the roaring twenties.
All for a dream
The official synopsis of ‘Babylon’, an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles:
“A tale of inordinate ambition and outrageous excess, it follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of decadence and rampant depravity in early Hollywood. With dreams of stardom, Nellie LaRoy crosses paths with icon Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), inspired by John Gilbert, Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks”.
The cast includes Pitt and Robbie along with Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Lukas Haas, Jovan Adepo, Tobey Maguire (who is also an executive producer) and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Max Minghella he plays the only real-life figure included in the historical fiction feature, studio executive Irving Thalberg.
LaRoy is an amalgamation of 1920s stars like Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, Joan Crawford, and Alma Ruben. Robbie called the film “the most difficult” he’s ever worked on. and described herself as a “masochist” for the role, during an Academy Q&A:
“She is so exhausting. She took everything from me. She had written on the front of my script: ‘she always Demands her full attention’. She did it to me. She demanded everything physically and emotionally. At the end of the first week of shooting, I came home to my husband and said, ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever worked on.’ This movie has something. Damien expects a lot from you as an actor.”