Funny, tough and emotionally daring: Why Margot Robbie is one of the most versatile stars of her generation

The actor will star in the new female-led ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. But whatever role is created for her, she is bound to bring levels of energy and mischief to it, says Geoffrey Macnab

Since 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013), Margot Robbie has gone on to become one of the most prolific and adventurous young stars in Hollywood (Photography by Rex)

It was a compliment of sorts but one hinting at the entrenched sexism within mainstream Hollywood. When Martin Scorsese cast the then little known Margot Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), the first full widescreen shot of Robbie showed her posing on a bed in her lingerie and high heels, looking uncannily like Brigitte Bardot in the famous early scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mepris (1963). Robbie plays Naomi, the Brooklyn-born wife of the sleazy financier Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). He calls her the “Duchess of Bay Ridge” and loves to show her off as if she is an even more prized possession than his white Ferrari.

Naomi is a former model and Miller Lite girl. The voyeuristic montage of her in her bedroom evokes memories of Douglas Kirkland’s Look magazine photos of Marilyn Monroe. She is described in the script as “the hottest blonde ever”; it’s very evident that she is primarily there to be gawped at.

“The whole point of Naomi is that her body is her only form of currency in this world,” Robbie later said of the character.