INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Margot Robbie Dons Fat Suit To Play Figure Skater Tonya Harding In Biopic ‘I, Tonya’ [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 18:11 PST, Jan 16, 2017

https://rumble.com/embed/vf7hc/

In 2016, it was announced that Margot Robbie would be playing the role of disgraced U.S. Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding in the upcoming biopic, I, Tonya. The flick is slated to tell the tale of Tonya Harding’s rise to glory, a rise that was marred by her involvement in the 1994 scandal in which Harding was involved in the near maiming of rival Nancy Kerrigan.

As News AU reports, Tonya Harding and Kerrigan were each other’s primary competition in the then-popular Winter Olympic sport, and the hiring of the man who would bludgeon Kerrigan’s leg prior to the games was traced back to Harding’s spouse, Jeff Gillooly. Margot Robbie has been training at the ice rink to portray Harding for months, and the 26-year-old Suicide Squad actress is said to be getting quite impressive on the ice.

Unfortunately, while she and Tonya Harding are both blondes, Margot Robbie has been blessed with a much svelter physique than Harding, even at the height of Harding’s figure skating career. As such, many fans (of Robbie, Harding and figure skating alike) were wondering if Margot could portray a Tonya Harding at all.

New photos of Robbie on set, however, seem to have laid all doubt to rest. Donning a “fat suit” (at least on her upper half), Margot Robbie’s figure, is eerily reminiscent of an early 1990’s Harding.

Spotted under an umbrella in an Atlanta, Georgia, drizzle, Margot Robbie was almost indistinguishable from an early 1990’s Tonya Harding. The usually trim actress appeared to be wearing a padded bodysuit (the flesh-toned sleeves of the garment were visible under the pushed-up sleeves of Robbie’s knit sweater) as she strolled on set of I, Tonya on Friday.

As Daily Mail reports, a pair of tight, high-waisted denim jeans (complete with ankle tapering) and a frizzy hairdo completed the Margot Robbie’s “Tonya” look.

According to those close to the project, I,Tonya closely examines the events that led up to the attack on Nancy Kerrigan in 1994. At the time of the real life attack, the intent was that the hired goons would break Kerrigan’s leg with a baton to force her out of the 1994 Winter Games, which took place in Lillehammer, Norway.

Unfortunately for Tonya Harding and company, things didn’t work out quite according to plan. The attack, which rocked and shocked the Olympic world at the time, ended up being referred to as “The Whack Heard Round The World,” and it did nothing to help propel Tonya Harding to Olympic glory. Rather, Nancy Kerrigan walked away from the brutal beating injured but determined. She would go on to place second at Lillehammer, losing to Ukrainian dark horse figure skater, 16-year-old Oksana Baiul who took home the gold.

Tonya Harding didn’t manage to snag a medal at all, coming in in eighth place for all of her pre-Olympic troubles. Prior to taking the ice, Harding suffered a world-famous and often mocked lace malfunction involving one of her skates, and those following the production of I, Tonya are waiting with bated breath to see the iconic scene portrayed by Margo Robbie.

[Image by Jack Smith/AP Photo]

It wasn’t until after the Olympic games that the full extent of Tonya Harding’s involvement in the plot against Nancy Kerrigan became known, and the fallout was highly publicized, dominating the U.S. and international headlines for months. Ultimately, Harding would go on to be banned from competitive figure skating for the rest of her life; her husband was sentenced to two years in prison for hiring the men who attacked Kerrigan.

Now that Margot Robbie has demonstrated that she can look the role of Tonya Harding, those who lived through the 1994 Olympic drama are waiting with bated breath to see if the starlet can act the part of the Portland, Oregon, native.

I, Tonya, the Tonya Harding biopic starring Margot Robbie, is scheduled to be released in theaters in 2018.

[Featured Image by Joel Ryan/AP Photo]

Share this article: Margot Robbie Dons Fat Suit To Play Figure Skater Tonya Harding In Biopic ‘I, Tonya’ [Video]
tonya harding nancy kerrigan Margot Robbie
More from Inquisitr