Margot Robbie was joined by Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore at the star-studded Deadline Contenders event in Los Angeles this weekend.
The Hollywood heavyweights came to the DGA Theater to spotlight 28 films, with panels where cast and creatives could tell candid stories about the productions.
With the actor’s strike over, it looked like Tinseltown’s best and brightest were ready to present, with the three actresses leading the way.
Academy Award nominated Robbie, 33, was the first to walk the red carpet before leading a panel discussing her blockbuster Barbie with director Greta Gerwig.
She looked casually chic in a white floral print Oxford, tied at the waist, which she paired with chic denim and matching red accessories.
“I definitely didn’t want to try to make a Barbie doll piece. I wanted us to focus on the scary things as much as we celebrate the wonderful things,” Robbie said during a panel. ‘That’s exactly why I went after Greta [Gerwig]because I thought, ‘That’s what she would do.'”
Robbie acquired the rights to the legendary doll through her production company LuckyChap, before approaching Gerwig and her collaborator Noah Baumbach to write the script.
The pair then took Barbie and made the biggest opening of 2023, the biggest opening by a female director and the highest opening for the film’s stars Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
The film is the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros. history, as well as the highest-grossing film ever directed by a woman.
“She literally changed the game,” Robbie said of Gerwig. “It’s different from now on because of what she did. It’s huge.
“And someone will come up with another original idea that will require a big budget, and there will be a female lead, and they will point to Barbie and say, ‘But that made money.’ , “Oh yeah, we’re going to have to greenlight this. And that’s great.”
However, Gerwig downplayed her part in Barbie’s success, attributing it to a team effort.
“There’s no way we could have stood on stage and done what we had to do if those women hadn’t done it,” she explained. ‘So don’t feel alone in this place. I feel like there are a lot of them that have come before and will come after.”
Meanwhile, Portman and Moore wowed in their dueling red looks as they discussed their thriller May December, inspired by the true story of sex offender teacher Mary Kay Letourneau.