I, Tonya: Margot Robbie is Tonya Harding’s Most Redeeming Quality
©2017 - NEON As Margot Robbie drawls in the final moments of I, Tonya : “America wants someone to love, but they also want someone to hate.” Tonya Harding exemplifies both the best and the worst qualities of an All-American athlete. Her career, filled with some of the highest highs for any American figure skater, was short-lived thanks to the infamous knee-capping of Nancy Kerrigan, America’s figure skating sweetheart, prior to the 1994 Olympic Games. She is the perfect fodder for a biopic. But I, Tonya does more than just humanize someone who has become a symbol for villainous and conniving athletes. This film reimagines the way biopics should be presented. According to captions before the movie begins, I, Tonya is based on a series of conflicting interviews between Tonya Harding (an electrifying Margot Robbie in a performance bound to reshape her career) and her now-ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan, who serves as a worthy sparring partner). Consequently the rest ...