Deadline has revealed that Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad, The Wolf of Wall Street) is in talks to portray Tonya Harding in a new film called I, Tonya, which will chart the ice-skater’s rise to fame and fall into disgrace.
The film, written by Steven Rogers (Christmas With The Coopers), tells the unthinkable story of Harding’s career in ice skating, where she rose to prominence in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s after her checkered upbringing and rough childhood in Oregon. By 1991, she had risen to the very top of the figure ice skating charts and she became the first American female to do a triple axel in some major tournaments. In 1991, she finished in 2nd at the World Championships, and won the US Champion crown.
Then in 1994, her career imploded when her husband and some hired thugs tried to break the leg of competitor skater Nancy Kerrigan. They didn’t succeed and were caught, with Harding’s husband Jeff Gillooly saved from prison by ratting out Tonya. Harding finished 8th that year, with Kerrigan finishing as runner-up, and Harding was stripped of her 1994 championship and given a lifetime ban from the sport.
No director has been found for the film yet, but the site reports that Robbie is “taking it upon herself to find a filmmaker to build this project around her”.
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Originally published March 22, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
