It’s been over a decade since a then-unknown Australian actress walked into a room with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese and basically changed the course of her life with a single slap. We all know the movie. We all know the character. But the Margot Robbie nude scene Wolf of Wall Street fans still talk about wasn't just some studio requirement or a piece of "gratuitous" Hollywood fluff. It was actually a calculated power move by Robbie herself.
Honestly, she wasn't even supposed to be that exposed.
Most people assume the big-name director or the "pervy" Hollywood system forced a 22-year-old newcomer to strip down. The truth is the exact opposite. Martin Scorsese actually offered her a robe. He told her she didn't have to go full frontal if she wasn't comfortable. But Margot said no.
The "Currency" of Naomi Lapaglia
To understand why she insisted on it, you have to understand how Margot saw Naomi. In her mind, Naomi Lapaglia didn't have much else besides her looks in that high-stakes, hyper-masculine world of Jordan Belfort. She once told The Telegraph that Naomi’s body was her "only form of currency."
When she's standing in that doorway in the nursery scene, she isn't just being naked. She's winning.
"The whole point is that she’s going to come out completely naked—that’s the card she’s playing right now," Robbie explained recently on the Talking Pictures podcast. She felt that if she wore a robe or tried to "conveniently" hide behind a sheet, it would betray the character. To her, a robe would have signaled hesitation. Naomi doesn't hesitate. She manipulates.
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Liquid Courage and Three Shots of Tequila
Don't get it twisted, though—she was absolutely terrified.
It’s one thing to have a creative vision for a character. It’s another thing to actually drop your robe in front of a room full of crew members and the biggest movie star on the planet. To get through it, she didn't just "pro" her way through. She turned to a little bit of Mexican gold.
- She knocked back three shots of tequila at 9:00 AM.
- The shots were purely for "liquid courage."
- She was "very, very nervous" and worried about how her family would react.
One of her brothers actually didn't speak to her for three months after the movie came out. Not because he was angry, but because he just needed a minute to "consider her his sister again" after seeing that much of her on a 40-foot screen. Totally fair.
That Audition Slap: The Moment She Won the Role
Before the Margot Robbie nude scene Wolf of Wall Street even became a conversation, she had to actually get the part. And she almost blew it—or so she thought.
The script for the audition called for a kiss. She was standing there with Leo, and in her head, she was thinking, "I could kiss Leonardo DiCaprio right now and tell all my friends." But then a different part of her brain took over. She thought about how many girls had probably kissed him in that room already. She wanted to make a mark.
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So, she walloped him.
She just hauled off and slapped him across the face, then screamed, "F*** you!" at him.
The room went dead silent. Margot was convinced she was going to be arrested for assault. She was waiting for security to escort her out of the building. Instead, Scorsese and DiCaprio burst out laughing. Leo reportedly told her to "hit me again." That "unique audacity," as Scorsese later called it, is exactly why she got the job.
Breaking the "Bombshell" Stereotype
The legacy of this scene is complicated. On one hand, it made her a global sex symbol overnight. On the other, it nearly made her quit acting. The sudden "white-hot fame" was overwhelming. She told Vanity Fair that she went home to her mom and said, "I don't think I want to do this." Her mom’s response? "Darling, I think it's too late not to."
Thankfully, she stayed.
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She used the momentum from Wolf of Wall Street to launch her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment. She shifted from being the "body" to being the boss behind I, Tonya, Promising Young Woman, and Barbie.
What You Should Take Away
If you’re looking at that scene as just another R-rated movie moment, you’re missing the craft behind it. It’s a lesson in:
- Character Integrity: If you're going to do something, do it because it fits the story, not because you're told to.
- Taking Risks: The slap and the nudity were both choices Margot made to ensure she wasn't just "the girl in the background."
- Ownership: She took control of her own image even when she was the least powerful person in the room.
If you’re watching the movie again, look at the nursery scene not as a moment of vulnerability, but as a moment of total dominance. That was Margot’s goal. And given that she’s now one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, it’s pretty clear she knew exactly which cards she was playing.
Next Step: Watch her performance in I, Tonya to see how she completely deconstructs the "bombshell" image she built in Wolf of Wall Street. It's the perfect bookend to her career arc.