Oscar nominee and general megastar Margot Robbie is planning to bring a modern, female-led Shakespeare series to Australian TV...
Words by Victoria Fell
Is there anything Margot Robbie can’t do? From her humble beginnings in Aussie soap Neighbours, to going sexy and scheming in The Wolf of Wall Street, to her well-deserved Oscar-nomination for her portrayal of notorious figure-skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, Robbie is an acting powerhouse.
You might be less aware of the fact that Robbie is also a big-shot producer and founded her production company LuckyChap in 2014, with a view to ‘championing female talent and stories’. It’s therefore no surprise to hear that LuckyChap is teaming up with Australian production company Hoodlum to create a series of 10 stand-alone episodes, each based on a work by Shakespeare. On top of this, each episode will be told from female perspectives and led by an all-female creative team.
In a separate statement to announce the series, LuckyChap emphasised how diverse they want to make the as-yet-untitled series: ‘We are thrilled about this Australian partnership as an opportunity to showcase unique, distinctly female voices in writing, and to demonstrate the high quality of the Australian film and television industry. The project will share diverse points of view from writers representing the different cultures and areas within Australia, which many would not readily associate with works of Shakespeare.’
This is not the first time that Robbie has spoken out about wanting to encourage female film makers. She told the Australian Associated Press in Sydney recently, ‘I'm taking a lot of meetings with the lesser-known talent at the moment, the indie film makers, first- and second-time film makers, mainly women.’
She went on, ‘I'm in a lovely position where I can actually help get things green-lit so I want to work with people who we haven't seen yet.’
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