Margot Robbie as Jane in the new Tarzan movie. The Australian actress has revealed she shares a flat in London.
Margot Robbie as Jane in the new Tarzan movie. The Australian actress has revealed she shares a flat in London.
She may be the fastest-rising star in Hollywood but you won't find Margot Robbie, who can boast a reported net worth of more than $10.75 million, dropping her hard-earned dosh on extravagant spending sprees.
"I don't spend much money at all. It actually makes me really anxious, just the idea of it. It seems crazy to spend a huge amount of money on things you don't need," she tells news.com.au. "I'm pretty frugal."
She's not kidding. Robbie, 25, together with her boyfriend, assistant director Tom Ackerley, share a flat in the London suburb of Clapham with four roommates.
More than a tad unusual given her flush circumstances. "Not really. Actually, we've downsized. Until recently we were living with seven others."
She laughs. "I like living with lots of people. It reminds me of the house I grew up in."
With such a full house, her living conditions must be a little chaotic at time. "Well, I'm not super domestic but everyone chips in and does the dishes; the boys do the bins because that's a boy job. It's definitely not glamorous."
Surely, with that many cohabitants, lack of privacy must be an issue?
"It's funny. I always think I want privacy because I'm never actually on my own, ever. But then when I am I hate it," she confides. "After five minutes I find people to hang out with."
The pragmatic star continues, "I've never spent money on staying anywhere beautiful and I've never paid a lot in rent. I've saved my money from my time on Neighbours (playing Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011) and spent it on moving to America, acting classes and dialect coaches."
Margot Robbie and Alexander Skarsgard in Tarzan.
Evidently, the acting lessons paid off. Following her pivotal role in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and her not-so-monumental role in Focus (2015), she currently stars in two big budget Hollywood movies: Tarzan, and Suicide Squad.
Robbie also graces the cover of the upcoming Vanity Fair issue - quite a leap from her days on Neighbours. "It's mind-boggling," she nods, grinning. "It's really exciting to shoot with those photographers that you've read about for years in Vanity Fair."
Robbie's personal life appears to be equally exciting. Her relationship with Ackerley began on the set of Suite Francaise in 2014 and they seem to relish the gypsy lifestyle. She's not ready to settle down and start a family.
"Well, you'd have to be in one place and I'm never in one place. I can't even have a pet because I keep moving around too much. So family is definitely going to have to wait for now."
But it seems she does enjoy certain domestic joys. "Well, I'm a terrible cook and I recently bought olive oil from Hungary (where she is shooting Terminal with Mike Myers and Simon Pegg) because my boyfriend is a very good cook. So, I provide the ingredients which is a subtle invitation for him to cook me a dinner."
Certainly no damsel in distress (outside the kitchen), she plays a modern version of Jane to Alex Skarsgard's Tarzan. I tell her that her handsome co-star said their sex scene had to appear "primal" and in doing so, he was left with many scratches on his back.
She laughs. "That was literally the easiest part of the job. I think when you're watching Tarzan and Jane, two people that have such primal urges and are so madly in love, you kind of want that to be represented in their love life. And (director) David Yates definitely encouraged that when we were on set.
"When we were shooting he was like, 'Be more aggressive! Dig your nails in! Punch him!' And I was like, 'OK, we're going for it!' It was fun."
Meanwhile, with our federal election looming, she says, "I'm not following as closely as I would be if I was living there and I'm not going to be home to vote. But definitely I think everywhere the political scene's being shaken up a lot. And yeah, I think crazy things are happening."
The conversations turns to Brexit. "I really hope people stop and take the time to maybe research things before making decisions or casting a vote because I think we're going to have to deal with the repercussions for a long time to come."
