Earlier this month, Margot Robbie got very candid about a particular kiss she and Brad Pitt share in their new movie, Babylon.
Margot, who portrays Nellie LaRoy in the raunchy period comedy-drama, surprised fans when she revealed that she completely improvised the kiss between her and Brad’s character Jack because she saw it as her only “chance” to kiss him.
“That wasn’t in the script,” she said of the smooch when speaking with E! News. “But I thought, When else am I gonna get the chance to kiss Brad Pitt? I'm just gonna go for it.”
Margot admitted that she spoke with the movie’s director, Damien Chazelle, and convinced him that Nellie kissing Jack would be a great addition to the script. “I said, ‘Damien, I think Nellie would just go up and kiss Jack,’” she recalled.
And according to Margot, Damien was onto her from the jump, suspecting that she’d only make the suggestion in a bid to kiss Brad.
“Damien was like, ‘Well, she could— wait, hold on. You just wanna kiss Brad Pitt,’” Margot recounted. “And I was like, ‘Oh, so sue me.’”
“‘This opportunity might never come up again,’” she went on. “And he was like, ‘It does work for the character,’ and I was like, ‘I think so.’”
And Margot, who seemed very pleased with herself, described the kiss with Brad as “just great.”
However, several fans were left uneasy by her comments, with many pointing out that if the roles had been reversed, there’d be far more outrage.
“imagine if it was ‘Brad Pitt snuck in an unscripted kiss with Margot Robbie,’” one person tweeted.
Now, imagine if it was "Brad Pitt snuck in an unscripted kiss with Margot Robbie"? Just imagine... https://t.co/X3eiyO2VQ9
“Are we gonna let it slide as usual cos it's involved a woman not a man? Y'all find it beautiful not harassment, right?” said another.
Are we gonna let it slide as usual cos it's involved a woman not a man? Y'all find it beautiful not harassment, right? https://t.co/c6XIRhZtp5
After several people questioned how fans would react if it was “the other way around,” the conversation quickly moved along to “double standards.”
Let’s be honest, if Brad had asked Chazelle to put in an unscripted kiss with Margot just because he wanted to kiss her and was joking about it in interviews certain people on here would be up in arms. Double standards? https://t.co/rgYFigvSQX
@PopCrave Man would get cancelled for the same thing
Some people defended Margot, arguing that she did get Damien’s permission to make the addition to the script beforehand. “she’s weird for that but a lot y’all sound confused... it says unscripted - not ‘without consent’ - she went over it with the director and pitt beforehand from the looks of the article,” one tweet read.
In response, others noted Brad still seemingly had no idea about the kiss before it happened, which many found questionable. Fans also expressed their discomfort with Margot’s comments given that she’s been married to Tom Ackerley since 2016.
It’s also important to note that Brad's ex-wife Angelina Jolie has accused him of physical and emotional abuse and said she feared for the safety of their four children while they were married. A recent lawsuit claims that Brad accused Angelina of being “too deferential” to their kids and “grabbed” her “by the head and shook her” before pushing her “into the bathroom wall” on an airplane in 2016.
Brad also allegedly “poured beer” on Angelina and later “choked” one of the children who tried to verbally defend her. In light of these allegations, several more fans were outraged by Margot’s gushing comments about the actor.
Now, Brad has weighed in on the conversation around Margot's controversial kiss himself.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight at the Babylon premiere in Los Angeles, Brad was asked if Margot had "snuck" the kiss in, with the reporter saying, "She wasn't supposed to kiss you, and she kissed you."
But in response, Brad defended Margot, saying: "No, not necessarily."
“There’s always room for character interpretation,” he added, seemingly ignoring the fact that Margot’s reasoning behind the script change had everything to do with her wanting to kiss him in real life.
And Brad went on to call the unscripted kiss from Margot “the tamest thing” in comparison to some of the other things she does in the movie.
“Believe me, that's the tamest thing she does in this,” he said with a laugh. “She’s on fire on this. It’s the best I’ve ever seen her.”
