Margot Robbie on Hollywood inspiration: “I adore Katharine Hepburn”

Posted On May 19, 2025May 19, 2025

Margot Robbie burst into Hollywood’s collective consciousness in 2013 when she swapped the sun-drenched soap set of Neighbours for Martin Scorsese’s debauched streets of New York in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Playing Naomi Lapaglia opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, Robbie delivered a career-defining performance with the bite, wit, and charisma of a seasoned actor. She was just 22 years old. Since then, she has become one of the most recognisable talents of her generation, admired not only for her transformative acting but for her growing clout behind the scenes as one of the most formidable producers working today.

Of course, Robbie has long maintained that she’s more than just a screen presence. In 2014, only a year after her breakout role, she co-founded LuckyChap Entertainment alongside her husband Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, and Sophia Kerr. The company was formed to shift the cultural momentum by telling smart, compelling stories that foreground female voices. In the decade since, that ambition has paid off in spades. From the wickedly sharp Promising Young Woman to the chaotic opulence of Saltburn, LuckyChap has developed a taste for the provocative and the unexpected – a perfect mirror to Robbie’s own creative instincts.

During an interview with Tracy Smith for CBS News, the journalist compared Robbie’s business sense to Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, a comparison she did not take lightly. “There could not be higher praise for me because I adore Katharine Hepburn,” she said, adding, “I think I’ve always… had a business-savvy brain.” It’s not hard to see why. Robbie has been quietly redefining what it means to be a leading woman in Hollywood, in terms of visibility and ownership. She isn’t content to wait around for good roles; she helps build the stage they’re performed on.

The crown jewel in that ascent, of course, was the 2023 smash hit, Barbie. A film that could have easily fallen into plastic pastiche was instead transformed into a sharp, subversive cultural juggernaut under the direction of Greta Gerwig, with Robbie producing and starring in the lead role. Featuring everything from Dua Lipa dance breaks to existential monologues, Barbie managed to gross $1.45 billion at the box office and rekindle a global conversation about gender, consumerism, and girlhood. It wasn’t just a success. The film was nothing short of a phenomenon, one that elevated Robbie from bankable star to full-fledged mogul.

Next, she’s turning her sights to the gothic moors of Yorkshire for Emerald Fennell’s bold reimagining of Wuthering Heights. Set for release in 2026, the adaptation will once again see Robbie producing and starring, this time as the tempestuous Catherine Earnshaw. Joining her will be Saltburn co-star Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, with Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, and Hong Chau rounding out the cast. Described as a psychological drama with a sharp modern edge, it’s yet another example of how Robbie, alongside Fennell, is reshaping classic material through a contemporary and unflinching lens.

From blockbuster fame to indie risk-taking, Margot Robbie continues to resist easy categorisation. Whether she’s building billion-dollar toy empires or reviving Brontë in bold new colours, she operates with a vision sharper than most. Not many stars can claim they helped redefine the culture from both sides of the camera – but then again, there aren’t many like Robbie.

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