The first “I, Tonya” trailer has landed and Margot Robbie is almost unrecognizable in her role as disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding.
The film brings to life the biggest scandal in figure skating, the rivalry of Nancy Kerrigan and Harding, and judging by the clips released by Time, it's set to be a powerful watch.
Many will remember the incident, as recounted by Time:
It was the night before the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships when an Olympics-bound Kerrigan was physically assaulted by a man with a police baton.
It was later revealed that the man, Shane Stant, was hired by Harding's then-husband Jeff Gillooly and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt.
All three men served prison time and Harding received community service for having prior knowledge of the planned attack.
It was a dramatic fall from grace for the skater and to exasperate her situation, Kerrigan recovered in time to win a silver medal at the 1994 Olympics.
The trailer for “I, Tonya” hones right in on this.
The opening clip shows Robbie completely transformed for her role as Harding, smoking a cigarette then stomping on it with her ice-skate.
Meanwhile, a voice narrative by Robbie drives home the rivalry as it states “America. They want someone to love, and they want someone to hate.”
Playing the role of Harding required a dramatic metamorphosis for glamorous Robbie, who only bears a passing resemblance to the figure skater.
However, the actress seems to have nailed it.
There has even been some award buzz around the role, The Independent noted, with some saying she may have a shot at winning the Oscar for Best Actress.
Reviewing the film, which premiered earlier this year at the Toronto Film Festival, Collider noted that “the film really belongs to Robbie, who shows that she will probably end up being revered as one of the greatest actresses of her generation.”
Film critic Matt Goldberg explained that, “in its own weird way, ‘I, Tonya’ functions as the anti-sports story. Rather than telling us about an athlete who overcame adversity, ‘I, Tonya’ is the tale of an athlete consumed by tragedy and misfortune.”
“I, Tonya,” directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers, was scheduled to open in theaters on Dec. 8.
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