STAR and STRIPES

Spotlight

Margot Robbie was so outrageously seductive as The Wolf of Wall Street's trophy wife, Naomi (a role that earned her Britain's Empire Award for best female newcomer), that she managed to exceed the script's hyperbolic requirement that she personify "the hottest blonde ever." Richard Curtis, who directed Robbie in 2013's romantic comedy About Time, compares the Australian siren to that other flawless goddess, Grace Kelly. And this summer Robbie is taking on the role of the ultimate irresistible Ur-female, Jane (opposite Alexander Skarsgard'sTarzan). Martin Scorsese's casting director, Ellen Lewis, who first brought Robbie to the master's attention, said, "As beautiful as she is, that's how talented she is."

Robbie is slightly baffled by all the over-the-top admiration. "In my big group of girlfriends at home," Robbie insists, "I am definitely not the best-looking. I did not grow up feeling like I was particularly attractive." And don't even think of labeling the 24-year-old an overnight sensation. For nearly a decade she paid her dues back home by working as everything from a housecleaner to a Subway sandwichmaker. Ever since, she says, "I've been on sets almost every day." Having recently wrapped Focus with Will Smith and Z for Zachariah with Chiwetel Ejiofor (who calls her "very, very funny and enormously vibrant"), she vows she will "never sell my soul for a paycheck. I'm not extravagant. I share my house in London with five roommates. I take the Tube. I intend to stay the exact same person I always was. I just don't ever want the novelty to wear off."

AMY FINE COLLINS

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