FILM
1759: I, TONYA
TRIVIA:
Allison Janney had seriously trained to become a figure skater throughout her
childhood and adolescence. However, when she was 17, she accidentally walked
into a sliding glass door and gravely injured her right leg. In 2014, during an
interview on "Fresh Air," Janney told interviewer Terry Gross that
her leg came close to being amputated. "I lost like three-quarters of my
blood. I lost an artery and cut tendon....I was in the hospital for like
seven--seven, eight weeks. I missed my first year of college. You know, and
after that, of course, I didn't really--I didn't skate for a very long
time."
Although Margot Robbie trained
extensively for the role, she wasn't able to perform a triple axel, nor could a
skating double be found as very few women figure skaters are able to perform
the jump, producer Tom Ackerley stated, "There has been only six women
since Tonya who have done a triple axel, even if there was one who was doing it
today, she'd be training for the Olympics and couldn't risk doing it for the
film." The jump was accomplished with the use of visual effects.
To
prevent damaging her hair, Margot Robbie wears wigs as Tonya Harding.
Surprisingly, the hair team used beer to achieve the "crunchy" permed
look when regular hair products didn't produce the desired result.
Nancy Kerrigan stated
in interviews relating to her Dancing with the Stars (2005) appearance that she
wouldn't be seeing the movie despite not knowing how much of it would feature
her, saying "I already lived through that."
Steven Rogers'
script was featured on the 2016 Black List of the most-liked, unproduced
scripts of the year.
I,
Tonya marks the third film Margot Robbie has features in in which breaking the
fourth wall is a prominent part of the plot. The other two being The Wolf of
Wall Street (2013) and The Big Short (2015). On I, Tonya and The Big Short her
characters (Tonya Harding and, basically herself) speak to the audience,
whereas her character in The Wolf of Wall Street (Naomi Lapaglia) does not.
