VIDEO: 'I TONYA' – THE DRAMA, PAIN, RUMOURS AND THE TRUTH
I Tonya was officially released on the 8th of December 2018 and has been the topic of many conversations and interviews, digging up the events of 1994. It is a biographical film based on the events of Tonya Harding's life, involving the scandal of her being accused of sabotaging her opponent's chances at making the Olympics. Margot Robbie plays the role of Tonya Harding with the story set in America. But what's so special about yet another scandal that this one gets its own movie?
Its the scandal that has never truly been cracked and Harding still, to this day, claims that the accusations are unfair. Harding claims to have grown up in a trailer with an abusive mother who pushed her to become a champion in the least encouraging ways. She always felt that the world of skating was against her because of her lack of lavish skating outfits and her less than graceful style of skating, landing her seemingly less talented opponents more sponsorships and attention. She began dating a physically abusive man but still manages to take the title of the first woman to land two triple axel jumps in competition. Harding then employs a new coach but struggles to maintain her performance which her boyfriend, Jeff, steps in to ensure that she qualifies for the Olympics.
It's at this point that things turn sour for Harding when Jeff hires a man to assault her opponent, Nancy Kerrigan, preventing her from competing to qualify for the Olympic team. Although at the time, Harding claimed to have no knowledge beforehand of this planned attack, the public made her the enemy, ruining her career. She was not given a legal sentence but was banned from competing in figure skating for life.
Harding still, to this day, feels that her life has been unfairly tainted by the event and when approached by the director regarding the film, saw it as a chance to find some redemption and make her story public. She was sentenced to a three year probation and 500 hours of community service after admitting she knew who attacked Kerrigan but didn't report it immediately. However, the debate on her degree of involvement in the attack is still spoken of today.
In an interview, Margot Robbie recalled Harding's reactions watching the film: "She was so gracious, she was amazing about [seeing the film]. Really, really amazing. She was very complimentary about what we pulled off, and she was really kind about my skating even though I'm nowhere near as good as I should be. Yeah, she was great." Harding said she enjoyed the actors and described the film as "magnificent" but there were aspects of it that she didn't enjoy due to the inaccuracies of the manner in which the movie portrayed the way she spoke to the judges on the ice and the use of explicit language.
The film shows a different perspective on the events and was nominated for several awards.