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Tonya Harding became very emotional while watching I, Tonya for the first time.
The Craig Gillespie-directed film tells the story of ex-spouses Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly, who hired a man to break the leg of Harding's competitor Nancy Kerrigan at the National Figure Skating Championship in 1994, which led to the end of her skating career.
Harding is portrayed by Margot Robbie in the movie, and the Australian actress has now shared that the former skater was impressed by the final cut.
"She said she'd wished she'd brought some friends to watch it with her, because it was more emotional than she'd expected," she told Empire magazine. "The goal was never to prop her up as some kind of hero, but neither was it to paint her as some sad victim."
In the film, Margot plays Tonya from the age of 15 to 44. To research what the skater was like at different phases in her career, she studied documentaries and footage and admitted it was more difficult to play the teenager than the more mature woman.
"It was difficult to nail that feeling of adolescence. The braces helped," the 27-year-old shared.
Margot also found it daunting to be taking on not only a major part but to play a real person. And learning to figure skate pushed her in ways she didn't believe possible.
"It was a lot more difficult than I ever could have presumed it would be. But I was lucky to have a phenomenal instructor, Sarah Kawahara, who actually lived through the whole thing – she choreographed Nancy Kerrigan, " she added.