Deadline reports that Margot Robbie has signed on to play disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding in the upcoming biopic I, Tonya. Harding made a name for herself in the figure-skating world back in the early ’90s, when she became the first American woman (and only the second woman ever) to perform a triple Axel in competition. This and her subsequent boxing career would presumably have been enough to secure some kind of legacy for the skater, but unfortunately she was so insecure about Nancy Kerrigan that she helped orchestrate an attack on her then-rival at a practice session for the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
The script was written by Steven Rogers (Love The Coopers, Stepmom), who interviewed both Harding and Kerrigan, and describes the film’s story as one that “captures the absurdity of what happened” while also acknowledging the adversity that Harding had to overcome just to compete in the exclusive sport. Robbie—who’s probably bracing herself for all the “good thing you hung on to Harley Quinn’s bat” jokes—will co-produce the film, which is still currently in search of a director with some help from Robbie herself.
The Harding and Kerrigan scandal was previously dramatized for audiences in the 1994 TV movie, Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story, which starred Dead Poets Society’s Alexandra Powers as Harding and scream queen Heather Langenkamp as Kerrigan.
