Margot Robbie reveals she worked with real roller derby pros on Birds Of Prey

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Margot Robbie delves into her surprisingly in-depth preparations for roller derby scenes in the new digital edition of Birds Of Prey.

The 29-year-old Australian actress revealed that she worked with Los Angeles–based roller derby stars to give the scenes a touch of veracity in a bonus featurette on the digital edition of the film, according to SYFY Wire.

She also pushed to have the scenes included in the first place after being a huge fan of the rebooted Harley Quinn comics.

Taking the lead: Margot Robbie, 29, revealed that she worked with pro roller derby stars to prepare for Birds Of Prey, and she urged the screenwriters to include the scenes; still from Birds Of Prey

DC comics relaunched each of its ongoing comic book characters in 2011 with its New 52 series, which saw Harley Quinn finding new life as a competitive roller derby star.

The rough and rowdy scenes inspired Margot to try to get something similar added into her Harley Quinn spin-off. 

‘In the New 52 comic, there’s a roller-derby fight-club situation,’ she explained. ‘I love that comic book. I kept saying, “We have to have roller derby, we have to have roller derby.”‘

Big fan: 'In the New 52 comic, there's a roller-derby fight-club situation,' she explained. 'I love that comic book. I kept saying, "We have to have roller derby, we have to have roller derby,"' Margot said; pictured in February

Big fan: ‘In the New 52 comic, there’s a roller-derby fight-club situation,’ she explained. ‘I love that comic book. I kept saying, “We have to have roller derby, we have to have roller derby,”‘ Margot said; pictured in February

Early on in the film, Margot puts on her skates for a high-speed match.

Rachel Jonston, a.k.a. Rachel Rotten, plays for Los Angeles’ Angel City Derby team and served as a technical advisor for the roller derby scenes, where she worked closely with Margot’s skating stunt doubles, Jocelyn Kay and Michelle Steilen.

‘[Harley’s] the only comic book character on roller skates,’ Steilen said. ‘The roller-skating community loves Harley Quinn. The fact that she’s on skates in a film? We’re gonna go crazy over this.’

The movie takes place after Margot’s trickster character has been dumped by the Joker and starts to find her own way in life.

‘We are introduced to [Harley] skating as a very aggressive roller-derby player,’ Rotten said.

‘That aggression has to carry throughout the film and into the other action scenes that feature the roller skating. There is absolutely an element of who Harley is and how Margot will have to skate.’

The pros: Birds Of Prey recruited Rachel Rotten, a member of the Los Angeles roller derby team Angel City, as a technical advisor. She worked with Margot's skating doubles Jocelyn Kay and Michelle Steilen

The pros: Birds Of Prey recruited Rachel Rotten, a member of the Los Angeles roller derby team Angel City, as a technical advisor. She worked with Margot’s skating doubles Jocelyn Kay and Michelle Steilen

Up their alley: '[Harley's] the only comic book character on roller skates,' Steilen said. 'The roller-skating community loves Harley Quinn. The fact that she's on skates in a film? We're gonna go crazy over this'; still from Birds Of prey

Up their alley: ‘[Harley’s] the only comic book character on roller skates,’ Steilen said. ‘The roller-skating community loves Harley Quinn. The fact that she’s on skates in a film? We’re gonna go crazy over this’; still from Birds Of prey

Part of the struggle was getting Margot to unlock her skating skills from her critically acclaimed biopic I, Tonya.

‘It’s really about getting her as comfortable on wheels as she was on ice,’ Rotten continued.

The process turned out to be much more difficult than the Bombshell actress expected.

‘I definitely underestimated how hard it would be, because I thought, “Oh, I’ve done I, Tonya, I’ve done a lot of ice skating — throw some wheels on and it’ll be the same thing.” It definitely wasn’t as painful as ice skating, I have to say,’ Margot added.

Change of scenery: Part of the struggle was getting Margot to unlock her skating skills from her I, Tonya skating skills. 'It's really about getting her as comfortable on wheels as she was on ice,' Rotten said; still from Birds Of Prey

Change of scenery: Part of the struggle was getting Margot to unlock her skating skills from her I, Tonya skating skills. ‘It’s really about getting her as comfortable on wheels as she was on ice,’ Rotten said; still from Birds Of Prey

Big adjustment: 'I definitely underestimated how hard it would be, because I thought, "Oh, I've done I, Tonya, I've done a lot of ice skating — throw some wheels on and it'll be the same thing,"' Margot said; still from Birds Of Prey

Big adjustment: ‘I definitely underestimated how hard it would be, because I thought, “Oh, I’ve done I, Tonya, I’ve done a lot of ice skating — throw some wheels on and it’ll be the same thing,”‘ Margot said; still from Birds Of Prey

Soft premier: Birds Of Prey was released February 7 to critical acclaim, but it underperformed with audiences. The film was moved to VOD this month as theaters began to shut down; shown in January

Soft premier: Birds Of Prey was released February 7 to critical acclaim, but it underperformed with audiences. The film was moved to VOD this month as theaters began to shut down; shown in January

Birds Of Prey was released February 7 to some of the best reviews yet for a DC Comics film, but it failed to become the commercial hit that other DC movies have been.

Though the film earned $200 million, doubling its budget, Variety estimated it would need to make $250–300 million just in order to break even once other costs, including marketing, were accounted for.

As theaters began to close amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, the film was placed online early for consumers to purchase a digital version, and it’ll be available to rent in April.