SPOILERS are ahead for The Suicide Squad now playing in theaters and HBO Max.
When it comes to The Suicide Squad, it’s clearly not the first time we’ve seen Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn raise hell, but it never really gets old, does it? After Harley gets herself mixed up with the dictator of Corto Maltese in the James Gunn-directed film, we witness an incredible action sequence for the DC character, and it’s partially made possible by some impressive gymnastics by Robbie.
I’m talking about the moment where Harley Quinn sends her captor into a choke hold before grabbing the key that can set her free using her toes and holding herself up and opening the cuffs on her hands… also using her toes. According to writer/director James Gunn that stunt was in fact done by Margot Robbie. In his words:
Yeah, the main thing is that she was able to just instantly grab the key with her foot and then twist herself backwards to put the key in the lock from the one shot. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It’s a real bummer because of that thing in front of her face, but if you look closely, you can see it’s Margot.
Now, that’s impressive. It’s one thing to learn a fight scene, but having the dexterity in your toes to unlock a key in the one shot James Gunn used for the moment in The Suicide Squad is somehow feels even more notable. As Gunn shared to The Hollywood Reporter, you can’t really tell it’s her, and that’s thanks to her puffy dress.
Yep, unfortunately, that kind of systematic face block could cover up the face of a stunt double but, now that James Gunn has told us we believe it – that’s really Margot Robbie channeling Harley Quinn’s break-out-of-a-torture-chamber smarts. Gunn called the actress a “human swiss army knife” after she pulled off the stunt but is very regretful that he didn’t remove the piece of her dress covering her face so it was more obvious to audiences.
According to James Gunn, who told the story on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as well, he was so “mesmerized” that she pulled it off so that it didn’t occur to him to make her face more apparent in the moment. He even called it his “biggest regret” of the film. At least the director is making sure the world knows that it was 100% her, because the work Margot Robbie puts in her stunt work since taking the role of Harley Quinn is quite amazing
Robbie doesn’t have another movie planned yet as the DCEU favorite, but we expect to see her again following her comments about being “ready for more Harley.” Oh, and James Gunn is apparently in talks to helm another Warner Bros comic book movie as well. You can check out the full lineup of upcoming DCEU films here on CinemaBlend.
The Suicide Squad is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
