Margot Robbie continues to strike while the iron is hot – adding to her growing collection of collaborations with Warner Bros., which includes a highly anticipated Harley Quinn movie. These projects are made possible through her newly minted production company, LuckyChap, and it is this organization that will deliver an adaptation of the as-yet unpublished novel by Gin Phillips, Beautiful Things.
The novel itself does not hit bookstores until May 2017, but the excitement around it is such that Warner Bros. quickly acquired the rights to turn it into a big screen feature film. With LuckyChap having a first-look deal with the studio – courtesy of Margot Robbie’s recent success – it’s Beautiful Things that has caught the eye of the fledgling producer and her colleagues.
The story centres on Joan – a young woman who’s nearing the end of an idyllic day at the zoo with her four year old son, Lincoln. The pair reluctantly make their way toward the exit, and seem to be among the last to heading for the gate. But, their departure is disrupted by the sight of dead bodies, and the sudden presence of murderous gunmen. Unable to flee to their car, Joan and Lincoln retreat back into the zoo and, over the course of the next three hours, Joan must try to out-smart the armed attackers to ensure her child’s survival.
This is a fast-paced, high tension tale that lends itself brilliantly to a cinematic adaptation. There’s no indication yet as to whether we can expect to see Margot Robbie as the lead, but it would certainly work well for her – providing a role that’s unlike any she has played in recent years.
In each of her biggest roles (The Wolf Of Wall Street, Z For Zachariah, Focus, The Legend Of Tarzan, and Suicide Squad), she’s played versions of ‘The Desirable Girl’. Each of those films has required different things of the character – some being action based, others leaning more heavily on drama – but the result has remained the same in that we have only seen a fraction of the talent of Margot Robbie.
Beautiful Things provides a lead role that is unrelated to romantic interest, and is instead a story entirely about survival. It seems that the projects attracting Margot Robbie as producer are those that are attracting her as a performer – in that she is clearly seeking to develop her own creative path. The first film from LuckyChap is the upcoming Terminal, in which Robbie stars alongside Simon Pegg, Max Irons, and Mike Myers. That being the case, there’s hope that the actress will star in this new adaptation project – once a writer and director have been hired.
