‘I think it’s like a muscle’: Margot Robbie talks crying on cue.

Image via Warner Bros.

Anyone who has seen Margot Robbie in a film knows she’s a dynamite crier. Last year’s Babylon included a scene where Robbie’s character (an upstart actor) cried on cue. And now, in this month’s Barbie, she once again exhibits her remarkable range as an actress.

During a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Robbie was asked about her ability to push out tears at the drop of a hat. The actor explained that she did “300 or so episodes” of a soap opera at the start of her career; hence, she had “a fair share of practice crying on cue.”

Robbie explained:

“I think it’s like a muscle. I could say to a director, ‘Do you want it on the left eye or right eye?

Honestly, it sounds so stupid and derivative, but I just think of something sad.”

Not that there’s much for Robbie to cry about these days: Barbie became one of the top 10 highest-grossing releases of 2023 after only 72 hours in theaters.

Its $337 million global opening weekend puts it above even Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which crossed $300 million in its second weekend.

The film has also beaten out the $295 million legacy sequel Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and DC’s The Flash, which made about $200 million at the box office.

If Barbie can keep up these numbers, we’ll have a genuine cultural phenomenon. Tears of joy are better anyway.