VOGUE Australia

MARGOT & ME

- Margot Robbie and her mother, Sarie Kessler, at the Oscar after-party in 2018.

Margot Robbie’s mother, Sarie Kessler, talks to her daughter not just about her fairytale Hollywood ride but some of their favourite memories together.

It’s fitting the title of Quentin Tarantino’s new film – Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood – sounds like it belongs in a fairytale. Since arriving in Los Angeles, Margot Robbie has fulfilled the fantasy of going from pilot-season rookie to Academy Award-nominated actor, and now also producer, all by 29. We asked Robbie’s mum, Sarie Kessler, to give her daughter a phone call to reminisce not just about the ride, but some of their favourite memories together.

SARIE KESSLER: “Hi sweetheart, it’s Mum.”

MARGOT ROBBIE: “So Mum, how’s it going?”

SK: “Good, darling, I’m just finishing my smoothie from breakfast. I wish I had a cup of tea and you were sitting here with me. Okay, sweetheart, I wanted to talk to you about when you first started acting. You went down to Melbourne [for Neighbours] and coldcalled the casting agent and did all of that by yourself. Where did that come from, that courage, the impetuousn­ess to do that?” MR: “I couldn’t say. I guess it’s a question I’d ask you, because you know me better than most people. Tell me what you think.”

SK: “Okay, this is my take on it. When you were born you were a very independen­t little person – you just did your own thing. Do you remember Rick [a very close family friend] saying to us: ‘She’s going to be the first female prime minister of Australia one day.’ He could see that tenacity, the individual­ity and courage and the take-thewhole-world-on attitude that you still have.”

MR: “I think you’re right and it’s funny you mention Rick saying that. I hope there are a lot of other little girls who have adults say things like that to them. Not: ‘Are you going to grow up and marry a nice man?’, or: ‘Are you going to grow up and be a princess?’ I know he was saying it as a joke, but I’m so lucky an adult said that to me as a little girl. It was a poignant moment where I went: ‘Yeah, why not reach for the stars?’ You’re so nice to say it was independen­ce. I’d say it was a little impatience on my part. I remember when I was younger if I wanted to do something I didn’t have the patience to wait to see if someone could help me to make it happen. It was more: I want this now so I’m going to look up the bus timetable so I can go do that thing. I don’t want to wait until Mum gets home from work and then see if I can get a lift somewhere.”

SK: “Would you say it was impatience when you went to Italy … when you’d been there on a school trip visiting [sister] Anya and came home with a nose piercing?”

MR: “No, I’d call that stupidity. If I’d known then that I was one day going to be an actor I definitely would not have got my nose pierced. It’s so annoying; I see the nose ring hole all the time on screen and I always think of that time I was a drunk stupid teenager in Italy thinking it would be hilarious to get my nose pierced.” SK: “Well, nothing like a little age to give you a different perspectiv­e.” MR: “I don’t know if I’ve grown out of making rash decisions, to be honest.” SK: “I don’t know if I’d call them rash, Margot, because you think about things a lot, too. I really admired the way you set about deciding how your future was going to unfold. I remember the first time you told me you were going to be an actor in grade 12.” MR: “I don’t remember at all.”

SK: “Do you remember doing that movie? You loved it so much and you came home and said: ‘Mum, you’re not going to like this, but I’ve decided I’m going to be an actor.” And Margot, my jaw hit the floor because you were at a really good school. You come from a family with a medical background and a family with a business background, and you told me you were going to be an actor. I was stunned.”

MR: “I can’t believe I don’t remember saying that. But when I said that, did your jaw hit the floor because you were surprised or you thought this is a bad idea and I should dissuade her?” SK: “All of that. I thought that it’s hard to be an actor and make a good living. But I was very concerned you were intending to take a pathway that, to me, didn’t have a really extensive future. And now you could say: ‘Mum, you needed more faith in what I can achieve.’ I’m just absolutely so happy for you that you’re in a situation where you love what you do and you have the independen­ce to do what you do because you guys started up your own company. Tell me about that – when did that idea first come about?”

MR: “I can’t remember how much I told you at the time. We talked about it when I met Tom [Ackerley, Robbie’s husband] and Josey [McNamara, their co-founder] on Suite Française in 2013. We didn’t articulate our thoughts as much as saying we should start our own production company called LuckyChap, but it was like: ‘Let’s make stuff.’ We had that conversati­on in 2013 and then again when we were all living together in London in 2014. We kind of started making the moves and getting the company going at that time.”

SK: “I don’t really understand the industry; I just thought that was a great idea. I saw it as a means of having longevity – it gives you that extra ability to be doing what you love, but right on until you’re much older. But you also said that you wanted to have creative freedom.”

MR: “The conversati­on really started from Josey and I saying that the best roles in a script were always the male characters. From there we said we should make scripts where the female characters are the most awesome – and this was all before it became a popular thing to say about female-focussed projects. The movement hadn’t really started at that point, but after it did it bolstered our confidence in what we were doing and also [changed] people’s appetite for those sorts of projects, so it really timed out perfectly.”

SK: “It did. You were ahead of your time, sweetie. Do you remember what you did with your first acting pay cheque?” MR: “I spent it on paying you back, Mum. Don’t you remember?”

SK: “No, I do – that would be right.”

MR: “I was so in debt by the end of grade 12. I had everything I owed you written on a piece of paper and every time I got a pay cheque I paid off my debt, but then I kept the piece of paper because it was so satisfying at the end to know I’d paid it all back. And then I started saving. And then I probably started going out and I don’t know … went to the movies.” SK: “When we’re talking about you getting into acting, I really didn’t see the writing on the wall, but I should have, because even as a little child you were such a performer. I just thought you were a bit precocious. I remember your first preschool book character day. All

you little kiddies had to go up on stage in your costume, say hello to this lovely author, and show her the book you’d taken your character from. So we’d found a bumblebee outfit for you …”

MR: “I remember. I can’t remember the book, though.”

SK: “It was so cute, and you went on stage to say hello to the lady and you’re there flitting around going: ‘Buzz, buzz …’ I remember thinking: ‘Where did this come from?’ That was the beginning.” MR: “I reckon it was Winnie the Pooh.”

SK: “I also want to talk to you about how your fashion taste has changed. When you were little I couldn’t get you out of board shorts and mismatched T-shirts.” MR: “And farm boots.” SK: “Yes, and farm boots. And now you’re just this amazing fashion icon sitting front row at Chanel haute couture.”

MR: “Mum. God bless you. I am not a fashion icon, but thank you for saying that.”

SK: “Well, you are to me. So tell me, what’s your first fashion memory?”

MR: “I think you’re biased. I remember [my cousin] Julia and I, we had the dress-up box and that was the most exciting thing. It wasn’t so much about fashion as it was about costumes and playing dress-ups and making up stories. It is hilarious when I look back at pictures and honestly, Mum, I don’t know why you let me dress myself. I looked ridiculous. The girls found a photo the other day of us at some sort of school thing and I’m wearing an apricot-coloured skirt, which I think Tahlia, my babysitter had made, then a T-shirt and farm boots. I don’t know how you let me out wearing that.” SK: “Probably because you would have had a tantrum if I hadn’t. When I see you sitting next to

Anna Wintour or being made the new fragrance ambassador for Chanel, I think: ‘Pinch me, this can’t be my daughter. The one who was in the farm boots and the apricot-coloured skirt.’” MR: “I am thinking the same thing.” SK: “And you know what, being in a big family, too – with two brothers and a sister and yourself – we had to figure things out and work through the difficulti­es of having tight budgets and you were very willing to run with that.”

MR: “Speaking of that, do you remember the valedictor­y dinner at school and I didn’t have an outfit to wear? I found a skirt in the dress-up box – it was an old 80s skirt, and I pulled it up and wore it as a dress and put a belt around it. When I got there everyone was like: ‘Ooo, cool dress, whose that by?’, because they were all wearing something a little snazzier, and I said it was Willow, which was a really chic, cool Australian brand.” SK: “It was a black taffeta skirt and you put a belt on it and borrowed a pair of red heels. Do you miss your family, sweetie? We miss you.” MR: “Always. Always, Mum, you know that. But I’m going to see [brother] Cam soon. I’m flying Cameron over for the premiere because he was actually in LA when I was shooting [ Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood] and he came to set. Quentin was so nice and sat Cameron next to him and the monitor, explained the whole shot to him, what the crane was doing … I could tell he was trying to play it cool, but he was practicall­y hyperventi­lating.” SK: “When you first went to LA, Margot, to me you were so young and every time you’d come home then go back it was awful. I used to cry all the way back to the Gold Coast. I was really happy for you in that you were doing what you loved, but you were still there on your own. But when you met Tom, then married him, I used to think: ‘Oh, thank goodness she’s going back to this wonderful man and I’m so lucky because he adores her and she adores him.’ I’m grateful to have him as a son-in-law, but also grateful that you can go back to him.” MR: “Aww, thanks, Mum.”

SK: “When we’ve done things together, you and I, what is one moment where you’ve stopped and thought: ‘Are we really here?’”

MR: “For sure earlier this year when we were in Cannes [for the film festival] – that was such a pinch-me moment. We were staying at Hotel du Cap, which is just fancy, and it felt like every room we walked into had a bottle of champagne handy. Honestly, you and I would wait for everyone to leave the room then we’d turn to each other squeal and say: ‘Let’s drink champagne.’ Or do you remember on the flight over there? We got to fly in first class and we were freaking out because they had caviar. On a plane! And I was like: ‘I don’t even like caviar but we should order it anyway.’”

SK: “Speaking of fond memories, what is one of your fondest memories growing up on the Gold Coast? Something that has stayed with you.”

MR: “You know what? All my fondest memories are outdoors. The first thing that comes to mind is playing outside at Julia’s house, in the backyard, making cubbies, going out to the farm, going to the rockpools. Do you remember when we lived in Currumbin Valley, I would always do my homework in a tree? I’ve said that to friends now who grew up in New York City or London and they have no idea what I mean. And I say: ‘Well, there were camphor laurel trees down the back past the back paddock and I could sit in the tree and do my homework and Mum could yell out the window when dinner was ready.’ You tell stories like that and you realise how lucky you are to have grown up on the Gold Coast.”

SK: “Or I remember you sitting up the top of the tank and looking at the sky with all the stars. How absolutely beautiful. Is there one life lesson you’ve learnt from me that’s stuck with you?”

MR: “That’s a good question. I mean you’re probably the most moral and good person I know. I think everyone who knows you agrees. There are countless things I’ve learned from you. One life lesson that’s stuck with me is something you actually told me. You told me a story about your dad – about Grandy – you said that when you were little your mum and dad were having a dinner party and you were listening to the adults talk when you were meant to be in bed. They were talking about someone and gossiping about someone. And Grandy said: ‘Well, he’s not here to defend himself right now, so let’s talk about something else.’ He said it very calmly and politely. And I don’t know why but that’s one of the things I’ve always remembered. I want to be that type of person who hears people gossiping and says let’s talk about something else. I think between you, Grandy and so many people in our family, I have a lot to live up in terms of being a good person.”

“You and I would just wait for everyone to leave the room then we’d turn to each other squeal and say: ‘ Let’s drink champagne’”

 ??  ?? Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair

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