Margot Robbie & Will Smith: Movie Secrets Shared

Learn English with Margot Robbie & Will Smith. Join Hollywood icons Will Smith and Margot Robbie as they discuss their film “Focus” at a London press conference. Dive into the world of charismatic con artists, and listen as they share their experiences, their teamwork on DC’s “Suicide Squad”, and much more. Plus, hear about their fun encounters with real-life crimes and a nod to Bollywood’s reverence for actors. Don’t miss out!

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Margot Robbie | Quote

“Passion fuels every dream.” Margot Robbie

Margot & Will Smith | FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Host: I want to know what was the thing that first interested you about this whole project?

Will Smith: I loved the work of John and Glenn, the directors, they did Crazy Stupid Love and I loved that film and when I read Focus it was so interesting because it’s so many different kinds of movies, they like completely ignore genre. So it’s a heist film, but then it’ll be a bizarre comedy for a while, and then it’s really serious and it’s great action. And then there’s a love story, as you’re aware there’s a love story in the film. Yeah, there’s a wonderful love story at the center of the film. So I just loved how many different styles and flavors that they would demand of the actors. We would be in scenes sometimes, we’re like, “So this is serious, right?” They’re like, “Yeah, yeah, but have fun with it.” And you would just get to go through so many ranges of the spectrum.

Margot Robbie: Like Will was saying, they said at the heart of it was a love story. So yeah, there was a lot to do for Jess in that sense because halfway through she’s a woman scorned and kind of transforms her after that. So yeah, no, they develop it really well.

Host: She has a great journey though. And I might have thought it was fun to bring to life.

Margot Robbie: Yeah, it’s really nice to have a character that has one starting point and is a totally different person by the end of the film. It’s kind of nice to play with that, so I was lucky.

Host: Who do you think’s in control by the end of the film, more in control between the two? Who’s in charge?

Will Smith: Who’s in charge? Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious. It’s pretty obvious, yeah. The thing about Margot, she is absolutely certain of who she wants to be and what she wants to do. But she’s absolutely certain of who she wants you to be and what she wants you to do too. So that was fun in a sense. She would say, “No, not like this.” “I’m sorry, hold on one second.” “Do it, no.” I’m like, “You know, I’ve made a couple movies, Margo. “I have some ideas too.”

Host: I bet you quite like that.

Will Smith: No, you know what’s great? She’s right most of the time, which is fantastic, right? You know, 90% of the time, if something doesn’t feel right to her in a scene, it’s correct. But I’m a man, I gotta go against it anyway. But her instincts are really brilliant. She can’t always say why it doesn’t feel right. She just says, “Just do it the way I said.” So I learned to do that. But it was really, really fun working with someone with that level of instincts that was so different than my own.

Host: Did you guys get much of a chance to improv on this film or was it kind of sticking to script for the whole…

Margot Robbie: I feel like we improv’d quite a bit. Which is surprising because there are so many plot points that we obviously had to hit in each scene or hit to a certain degree or hide to a certain degree. So it shouldn’t have left much room for improv but the guys still really encouraged it.

Host: Is there one scene that sticks out for you that was a kind of really good example of…

Margot Robbie: I think the end scene.

Will Smith: The end scene, oh my goodness, yeah

Margot Robbie: Because when we did that end scene, I don’t wanna ruin it for people who haven’t seen it, but when we did the end scene, it’s quite dramatic, but there were takes where we were just like in hysterics.

Will Smith: Yeah.

Margot Robbie: And when you watch it, it’s…

Will Smith: It looks like it makes sense.

Margot Robbie: Yeah.

Will Smith: No, what’s really great, what they do that’s fantastic is they create a set where everyone’s involved. So they get what they want and you’re rolling and they’ll let anyone yell out a line.

Margot Robbie: If it’s funny, like someone should say it.

Will Smith: If it’s funny, somebody just yells something out that’s funny. Say, “Oh yeah, yeah, Margot, say that, say that.” Somebody, the grip says, “Hey, he should say, you know.” You’re like, “Oh, hey, Will, yeah, it’s funny, say that, say that.” So it’s like this real great family.

Margot Robbie: Everyone’s in it together. Everyone’s working towards the same goal.

Will Smith: It was a little awkward for me in the love scene, but other than that. “Put your leg up, put your leg up.” Hey man, I’ve done this before.

Host: Have you been robbed? If you have been robbed, how did it feel?

Margot Robbie: It didn’t feel like anything because I didn’t notice I was being robbed at the time. I’ve been pickpocketed very effectively and I’ve been blatantly robbed, you know, that I was aware of.

Will Smith: Margot gets robbed all the time. I’m like, how do you manage to get robbed to get robbed.

Margot Robbie: Because I’m not 6’3″ dude walking around.

Will Smith: I guess.

Margot Robbie: I’m an easy target.

Will Smith: She grew up in Australia where people are nice all the time.

Margot Robbie: So she’s like, “When I leave the house, 5% of my money’s in my sock, another piece of it in the back, put some under your arm.” You’ve split all your stuff up because you know you’re going to get robbed.

Host: And how difficult were the tricks, I guess, or the tricks, a lot?

Margot Robbie: It’s a lot harder than it looks. The more you understand about it, the easier it gets. So the more you look into the psychological side of it, the more the physical side makes sense. Because to begin with, can’t believe that you could steal something in plain sight. You’re just like, they will catch me. There’s no way I’m gonna try that. But if you, and Apollo Robbins, who I think you’ve all met. Yeah, I mean, when he explains, you know, distraction and things like that. Yeah, it makes the physical side of stealing a lot easier.

Host: Tried it on mates and stuff.

Margot Robbie: I have, yeah.

Will Smith: Margot came to read for the role that she didn’t think there was any chance she was going to get it because of how different we are. I mean, I’m a…

Margot Robbie: And the long list of actresses I was up against.

Will Smith: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Margot Robbie: It was a little bit intimidating.

Will Smith: Yeah, because when we did, I’m 46 and Margot was 23 when we did it, so it seemed like it wouldn’t work in that way. I’m from Philly and she’s from Australia, so there was a pretty different… There’s obvious genetic differences. But for some reason it just worked perfectly. When you see it on screen, none of those questions come up. It’s like, “Oh, God, why would they do that?” It’s like a wonderful puzzle. It works together. It works very well. Very well. I enjoyed myself.

Margot Robbie: Well, we’ve said it a couple of times. It was something neither of us were really expecting, but for some reason, when we walked into the room, we just really got along, and that kind of continued throughout the shoot, and it made every scene exciting and fun, and it’s not really something you can manufacture, so it wasn’t forced or planned, I suppose. It just existed already, which was handy.

Press: Leonardo DiCaprio or Will Smith? Who’s hotter?

Margot Robbie: Everyone’s trying to get me in trouble.

Will Smith: No, wait a minute. Wait a minute, that’s a good question.

Host: Answer the question.

Will Smith: That’s a good question. Your Honor, will you please instruct the witness to answer the question?

Host: Answer the question.

Margot Robbie: I can’t win with this. Either way, I’m gonna get in trouble.

Press: And then what did you take from working with Will Smith?

Margot Robbie: Well, you know, it’s something I took from both of them. And they actually have a few things in common. They have extremely huge profiles. But on set…

Will Smith: but one of our profiles is huger than the others.

Margot Robbie: Trying to give you a compliment.

Will Smith: I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. OK. I’m sorry.

Margot Robbie: But despite how… I don’t want to say it now. But despite that, when they walk onto set, they’re extremely professional. They are so courteous to everyone on set.

Will Smith: So Bollywood, I’ve been there a few times. I hung out with some of the best. I was there, I think it was… It was four years ago when Big B wasn’t feeling well and everything shut down. And I was like, now this is how actors are supposed to be treated. he wasn’t feeling well and people were at the hospital and they shut everything down to make sure he was okay. So we could learn some things from Bollywood treatment of actors.

Press: Margot, as a woman, why do you think Jess forgave Nikki for being such a loser with you in the beginning?

Margot Robbie: I think it took her a little while to forgive him. She kind of punished him, about three years, and she kind of punished him for a while. I think eventually she just realized that that sort of game didn’t matter and she didn’t want to play the game anymore. And if he was willing to give it his all, she would too.

Margot Robbie & Will Smith