Photograph by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin—Getty Images Like no one else—that's what Margot Robbie's like. You're asked this question a lot about actors—"What's she like?"—and I've never been able to give an answer I'm happy with. With Margot, you can recall some classic precedents: the comedic genius of Carole Lombard, for her all-bets-off feistiness; Joan Crawford, for her grounded, hardscrabble toughness; Ida Lupino, for her emotional daring. Margot has all this in addition to a unique audacity that surprises and challenges and just burns like a brand into every character she plays. She clinched her part in The Wolf of Wall Street during our first meeting—by hauling off and giving Leonardo DiCaprio a thunderclap of a slap on the face, an improvisation that stunned us all.
This is not a complete answer to the perennial question, but it's a start. Margot is stunning in all she is and all she does, and she will astonish us forever.
TIME 100
Scorsese is an Oscar–winning filmmaker