Margot Robbie wants Harley Quinn to be a Macbeth-type role—and trusts Lady Gaga with the challenge

Margot Robbie, who has portrayed Harley Quinn for years, says it's an "honor" to see other great performers step into a role she's had a crack at

By Hattie Lindert  |  October 10, 2022 | 5:40pm
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Margot Robbie wants Harley Quinn to be a Macbeth-type role—and trusts Lady Gaga with the challenge
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Margot Robbie would love to see Harley Quinn have her own Macbeth-style arc—and no, she doesn’t mean the severed head part. In a new interview with MTV News, Robbie discusses Lady Gaga’s turn in Todd Phillips’ highly-anticipated Joker sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. Gaga has all but been confirmed to take up the Harley Quinn mantle—neither Warner Bros. nor Gaga have officially commented on the part—and Robbie is sharing her excitement at (probably) seeing a new iteration of the role.

“It makes me so happy,” Robbie shares of Gaga’s casting, “because I said from the very beginning: all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way Macbeth or Batman always gets passed from great actor to great actor.”

Per Robbie, there are “not so many cases” where a female character gains the staying power of a Macbeth or a Batman. She does point, however, to Queen Elizabeth I as one role that has been passed from capable hand to capable hand—including her own, in Netflix’s Mary Queen Of Scots.

“I was like ‘Wow, Cate Blanchett did Queen Elizabeth I, and now I get to do it!’” Robbie recalled of filming. (Perhaps we’ll get a similar quote from Gaga one day, but if history teaches, she’ll have far more outlandish things to say come Folie à Deux press junket time.)

Despite the differences in their respective styles (Gaga started off as a singer, while Robbie jokes about her struggles to carry a tune), Robbie feels proud to see a role she’s worked hard at expanding to weirder and wilder pastures.

“It’s such an honor to have built a foundation strong enough that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors get to have a go at playing,” Robbie concludes. “And I think she’ll do something incredible with it.”

 
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