“That’s Crazy.” Margot Robbie Suggests Babylon Could Be the Fight Club of Our Time
Margot Robbie believes people will still change their minds about Babylon and it will be like Fight Club.
Babylon, directed by Damien Chazelle, has assembled an all-star cast, including Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva and Tobey Maguire. The film debuted in 2022, and despite considerable expectations, a couple of awards and nominations for statuettes, it did not achieve the success that was expected. It was a financial flop, with a budget of about $80 million it earned only $64.9 million, and the reception of the movie itself was not overly positive, rather mixed.
For a film that generated high expectations, such results have not been satisfactory, causing it to be repeatedly summarized as a failure, something Margot Robbie strongly disagrees with. In The Talking Pictures podcast, the actress expressed her surprise that Babylon is so misunderstood and underrated. She also confessed that the movie has a chance in the future to change the way it is perceived.
I don’t get it either. I know I am biased because I am very close to the project and I obviously believe in it, but I still can’t figure out why people hated it. I wonder if in 20 years people are going to be like, “Wait, Babylon didn’t do well at the time?” Like when you hear that Shawshank Redemption was a failure at the time and you’re like like, “How is that possible? That’s crazy.”
The actress compared Babylon to Shawshank Redemption, but the situation she describes brings to mind another film that was misunderstood at the time of its release and had a mixed reception. We're talking about Fight Club, which financially didn't do too well either. Today this is surprising, since it is regarded as a cult film that audiences are downright delighted with, and it seems inconceivable that it did so badly in the past.
However, can Babylon really be the Fight Club of our time and 20 years from now will people wonder how it could have become a failure? Time will tell if Robbie's unwavering faith in a show about old Hollywood was right.