ESCAPE KEY: “I think I read for the escapism, the same reason I love movies,” said Margot Robbie in the latest instalment of Chanel’s “In the Library With…” released today.
The Australian actress and producer reveals some of the books that swept her away in this eight-minute episode of the French fashion house’s Rendez-vous Littéraires Rue Cambon (literary gatherings at Rue Cambon, in English) series.
Robbie revealed that she enjoys cutting away from the world with a book and a cup of tea in her reading nook, owing to a childhood habit of climbing into a tree or the roof for some respite from the hubbub of her busy family home.
One of the first destinations she escaped to was the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien, which she discovered at age 8 when a teacher read “The Hobbit” in class. “As soon as she started reading it, I was so hooked,” Robbie remembers, recalling that her impatience to know what happened next led her to pick up the book from her older sister.
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Up next for the young voracious reader were a number of book series, starting with Harry Potter, in which her husband, British film producer Tom Ackerley, appeared as an extra at age 11; American series “Nancy Drew”; and “The Famous Five” and “The Secret Seven” adventure and detective novels by English children’s author Enid Blyton.
Becoming an actress then a director changed her relationship to the written word. “It’s really hard to read a book without thinking about it in a work sense,” she says, revealing she enjoyed scripts, thanks to a format that allows her to get through them in a couple of hours.
Robbie also expressed her belief in the power of words, be it to unlock a character or even change her experience while traveling. “It could be one line and it can change everything,” she feels.
Take Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” which was recommended to her just before she went backpacking in Europe at age 18. Despite being initially unsure about the title when she picked it up before beginning her journey, she said the book “became everything” to her once she arrived in the Spanish city of Pamplona for its Running of the Bulls festival.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” — one of the few school-time readings she actually enjoyed — is a book she has returned to several times. “The use of language and her vocabulary is quite remarkable,” she said, revealing that her appreciation led her to name her dog Boo Radley after one of the characters.
When asked about her favorite books, she named “Five People You Meet in Heaven,” a philosophical novel by American author Mitch Albom; and “Animals” by Emma Jane Unsworth.
Other volumes she called out include “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood” by Peter Biskind, and “The Magicians,” a “kind of grown-up ‘Harry Potter’” she is currently reading.
Although she does enjoy love stories and those featuring male duos, narratives around female friendships hold a special part in her bookshelf as their depiction with “that emotional weight that they do have in real life” are quite rare.
“Women will agree that their friendship with their best girlfriend is hugely important,” she concludes.
Previous videos in the series have explored the literary tastes of Chanel ambassadors Tilda Swinton, Margaret Qualley and Charlotte Casiraghi.
FOR MORE, SEE:
Tilda Swinton Shows Her Bookish Side in Chanel Video
Pharrell Williams, Margot Robbie Watch Charlotte Casiraghi Open Chanel Show on Horseback