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‘Are we allowed to show that?’ Margot Robbie is surprised she ‘got away’ with ‘mad’ Babylon orgy scene

‘It was like ‘La Dolce Vita’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ had a baby,’ Margot Robbie said about scene in new Damien Chazelle movie

Jacob Stolworthy
Tuesday 17 January 2023 14:27 EST
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Trailer for Babylon (2022)

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Margot Robbie has expressed surprise at “getting away” with an “orgy” scene in her new film.

The Australian actor appears in Babylon, a Hollywood epic from Oscar-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle, alongside Diego Calva and Brad Pitt.

According to reviews, the film is divisive and contains many shocking scenes, with one depicting an orgy occurring early on.

One person who was surprised by the film’s content was Carey Mulligan, who spoke with Robbie as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” interview series. She described the opening sequence as “this enormously debauched, crazy, wild party” featuring “lots of people wearing very little or nothing”.

Robbie said: “It’s pretty much a party-slash-orgy. It kind of turns into an orgy.”

She described the film as “mad”, stating: “When I read the script, I was like, this is like La Dolce Vita and Wolf of Wall Street had a baby – and I love it. But I was like, are we allowed to show that? Are we allowed to show that?

“There were so many scenes where I was like, a) I have no idea how I’m going to do that, and b) are we going to get away with this?”

When Mulligan said she had watched the film with her mum, Robbie said: “What’d she think? Oh, my God,” before sarcastically adding: “Everyone should see Babylon with their parents. It won’t be awkward at all.”

Mulligan also revealed that she sent her husband Marcus Mumford to watch her risqué film Shame, about a sex addict, with her mother when she had dated the singer for just a few months.

“It was rough,” she commented.

Margot Robbie in new film ‘Babylon'
Margot Robbie in new film ‘Babylon' (Paramount Pictures)

Robbie recently said her kissing scene with Pitt in Babylon was unscripted, and that she improvised the moment in order to take her “opportunity”.

Babylon was released in the US on 23 December, and will be released in the UK on 23 January.

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