Margot Robbie
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 10: 80th Annual GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS — Pictured: Margot Robbie arrives at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. — (Photo by Todd Williamson/NBC/NBC via Getty Images)

There’s a poignant scene in Damien Chazelle’s new film Babylon where aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (played by Australian actress Margot Robbie) meets famous actor Jack Conrad (played by Brad Pitt).

“Conrad! You are even more f**kable in person,” Nellie tells Jack, putting her arms around his neck and planting a kiss square on his lips.

“Thank you. This is Estelle…” replies Jack, gesturing to his fiancée standing next to him.

“Hey, I wasn’t actually going to f**k him,” Nellie tells Jack’s wife-to-be, her New York accent thick.

While the scene has been the talk of the internet due to Robbie’s admission that she improvised the kiss with Pitt, it’s her Brooklyn accent on the New Jersey-born-and-raised Nellie that has us seeing parts of Naomi LaPaglia, the character the 32-year-old played in her 2013 breakout film The Wolf Of Wall Street.

“I did Boston, Southern, I did the whole gamut and would read [the accents] and send them to Damien,” Robbie says of her working through 31 different dialects with the director to nail Nellie’s accent. “What we landed on was we wanted her to be from Jersey. We wanted her to have a low, husky voice but something that was grating and not pleasant to listen to.”

Margot Robbie
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 10: Margot Robbie attends the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/WireImage)

Nevertheless, said dialect work and improvisation has seen Robbie recognised this award season. This evening she is up for Best Actress in a Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards. Her contenders include Lesley Manville for Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Anya Taylor-Joy for The Menu, Emma Thompson for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Robbie’s co-star Diego Calva is up for Best Actor in a Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category, and Babylon is up for Best Motion Picture in a Musical or Comedy.

Robbie arrived at the Beverly Hilton in a haltered crepe pink Chanel gown, fringed at the hem with a feminine play on the 1920s era in which her Babylon film is set in.

Margot Robbie
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 10: 80th Annual GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS — Pictured: (l-r) Jessica Chastain and Margot Robbie arrive at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. — (Photo by Todd Williamson/NBC/NBC via Getty Images)
Margot Robbie
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 10: Margot Robbie attends the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Margot Robbie
Australian actress Margo Robbie arrives for the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 10, 2023. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Set at the beginning of the Golden Age of Hollywood, a time when the film industry was transitioning from the silent movies to those with sound, Babylon explores the relationship between Mexican immigrant Manny Torres (Calva) and a very brash aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (Robbie).

Robbie and Calva will visit Australia ahead of Babylon’s Australian premiere at the State Theatre in Sydney on January 16.

Babylon will be in Australian cinemas on January 19.