Margot Robbie has been on top of the world for the last year.
She was recently named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and with recent starring roles in hit movies like Suicide Squad and The Legend of Tarzan, she’s one of the most sought-after women in Hollywood.
Of course, she wasn’t a household name until she appeared as Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s epic about corruption in the world of high finance. It was a career-making role, and Robbie knew that when she auditioned. Perhaps that’s why she decided to get a little physical during her first meeting with co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Martin Scorsese recently told the story when writing for Time Magazine, introducing Robbie on their “Most Influential” list.
“She clinched her part in The Wolf of Wall Street during our first meeting—by hauling off and giving Leonardo DiCaprio a thunderclap of a slap on the face,” Scorsese wrote for Time, describing the moment as “an improvisation that stunned us all.”
Robbie recounted the memory to Harper’s Bazaar in 2015.
“In my head I was like, ‘You have literally 30 seconds left in this room and if you don’t do something impressive nothing will ever come of it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, just take it.’ And so I start screaming at him and he’s yelling back at me. And he’s really scary. I can barely keep up,” she said at the time.
“And he ends it saying, ‘You should be happy to have a husband like me. Now get over here and kiss me.’ So I walk up really close to his face and then I’m like, ‘Maybe I should kiss him. When else am I ever going to get a chance to kiss Leo DiCaprio, ever?’
“In my head I was like, ‘You have literally 30 seconds left in this room and if you don’t do something impressive nothing will ever come of it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, just take it.'”
That’s when she made an unorthodox decision.
“And so I start screaming at him and he’s yelling back at me. And he’s really scary. I can barely keep up,” she said at the time. “And he ends it saying, ‘You should be happy to have a husband like me. Now get over here and kiss me.'”
“So I walk up really close to his face and then I’m like, ‘Maybe I should kiss him. When else am I ever going to get a chance to kiss Leo DiCaprio, ever?'”
“But another part of my brain clicks and I just go, whack! I hit him in the face. And then I scream, ‘F**k you!’ And that’s not in the script at all. The room just went dead silent and I froze.”
Robbie immediately worried that DiCaprio would sue her, or that she’d be escorted out of the building by security.
Fortunately, it was the perfect choice for the role, and Scorsese immediately decided to cast Robbie. DiCaprio was also impressed, but while he didn’t sue or press charges, he did ask Robbie to hit him again (DiCaprio thought that the scene was much stronger with the unscripted moment).
