Margot Robbie has recently revealed that her kiss with Brad Pitt in the upcoming Babylon movie was improvised. In fact, Robbie was the one who initiated the kiss. Since the actress was the one to suggest the kiss, does this reflect a double standard in Hollywood?
In Babylon, which premieres December 23, Robbie and Pitt team up to tell the stories of actors transitioning from silent to sound films in the 1920s. In the movie, Robbie plays Nellie, an aspiring actress while Pitt portrays Jack Conrad, a veteran actor.
Not wanting to miss her shot at kissing Pitt, Robbie pointed out to director Damien Chazelle that she and Pitt should smooch. In an interview with E! News, Robbie shared, “That wasn’t in the script but I thought, ‘When else am I gonna get the chance to kiss Brad Pitt? I’m just gonna go for it.'”
That’s just what the award winning actress did. “I said, ‘Damien, I think Nellie would just go up and kiss Jack,'” the 32-year-old explained. “And Damien was like, ‘Well, she could—wait, hold on. You just wanna kiss Brad Pitt.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, so sue me. This opportunity might never come up again.’ And he was like, ‘It does work for the character,’ and I was like, ‘I think so.'”
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Luckily for Robbie, the kiss did work for her character. Even though the actress was happy to have just one kiss with Pitt, Chazelle decided that the kiss was a great addition to the movie. In fact, “[Damien] was like, ‘No, do it again. That really works,’” shared the actress. “I was like, ‘Oh, great.'”
Is Robbie Turning Hollywood’s Double Standard On Its Head?
An epic kiss scene in a movie is nothing out of the norm. Many of Pitt’s movies include romantic interests where smooching on screen is inevitable.
However, if roles were reversed, how would we feel about Pitt saying that he just wanted to kiss Robbie? Would we allow the Moneyball star to get away with asking for a kiss to be added to the movie simply because he had the desire to kiss the actress?
It’s hard to say. As we’ve seen time and time again, there is often a double standard in Hollywood. Olivia Wilde has openly discussed the double standard and sexism that women experience in show business. Other actresses, such as Emma Thompson, have accused the movie industry of ageism.
Older men, such as Pitt, are able to have love interests 20 or 30 years younger than them on screen. However, as Thompson points out, she has never had a younger man cast as her love interest.
Perhaps Robbie is just defying Hollywood’s double standard. Women are often told to be soft, pretty, and timid in order to be likable. In the end, the Suicide Squad star just knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it.