Margot Robbie, star and producer of the billion-dollar Barbie movie, was a bubblegum delight on her latest magazine cover.
The 33-year-old fronted the Awards Line issue of Deadline, decked out in a frothy pink minidress that brought back memories of the 1960s.
Letting her signature blonde locks tumble over her shoulders in gentle waves, she showed off her shapely legs in a pinup pose and modeled a towering pair of stilettos.
Inside the magazine, Margot laid bare her ambitions to direct a movie of her own, after years of producing critically acclaimed content.
'I really do want to direct,' she said. 'I've felt like I wanted to direct for about the last seven years. But I've always seen it as a privilege, not a right.'
Margot Robbie, star and producer of the billion-dollar Barbie movie (pictured), was a bubblegum delight on her latest magazine cover
The 33-year-old fronted the Awards Line issue of Deadline, decked out in a frothy pink mini that brought back memories of the 1960s
'I really do want to direct,' she said, adding: 'I've felt like I wanted to direct for about the last seven years. But I've always seen it as a privilege, not a right'
Through her Lucky Chap production company, she has helped shepherd a variety of projects to the screen, including her rollercoaster 2017 dramedy I, Tonya.
Starring Margot as the disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, the picture was showered with praise and netted a supporting actress Oscar for Allison Janney.
Since then, Lucky Chap has given the world both of Emerald Fennell's movies, her debut Promising Young Woman and this year's Saltburn.
However its most resounding success to date is Barbie, which proved to be a global juggernaut that crossed a billion dollars at the box office.
'I've been slowly working towards the feeling that I've earned the right to direct,' said Margot: 'and I feel I'm getting close to that feeling now.'
She reflected: 'It’s hard, too, because I’ve been so fortunate to work with so many amazing directors, and to learn from them. Often, when something comes to me, it’s like: "Wouldn’t it be great to act in that so I can watch them direct?"'
Margot dished: 'It’s funny how many directors ask me about the people I’ve worked with. They say: "Oh, does Scorsese pre-light and then rehearse?" Or: "Does Damien Chazelle plan the music before the scene?" You realize that directors never get to see how other directors work.''
Referring to her Barbie director Greta Gerwig and her The Wolf Of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese, she spilled: 'I get to see exactly how Greta does rehearsals and how Marty blocks, or doesn’t. It’s such a gift to learn from all these directors firsthand. But I would really like to direct.'
Her latest magazine interview hit the internet the same day that it emerged her Barbie performance is up for a Screen Actors Guild Award for best lead actress
Margot laid bare her ambitions to direct a movie of her own, after years of producing critically acclaimed content including Barbie, which she is pictured in with Ryan Gosling
The international movie star has a warm rapport with Barbie director Greta Gerwig, whom she is pictured with last week at a W Magazine party at the Chateau Marmont
Margot clarified: 'I’m not in any rush, because I feel that there’ll never be enough time to learn all the things I want to learn before I take that plunge, but I definitely have that itch, and it’s growing too strong.'
The Birds Of Prey star, who originally hails from the Australian town of Dalby, said: 'I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold off.'
Margot explained that she has been fascinated with the details of cinematography ever since she got her break on the long-running Australian series Neighbours.
However she was only able to scratch the itch when she started appearing on the American television program Pan Am with Christina Ricci.
'I remember when I was on Pan Am, I would just pepper the DP with a million questions. On Neighbours, there was never any time for that because we moved at a crazy pace. Suddenly, I was on a television show where we had the luxury of time. We shot one episode a month on Pan Am,' she said.
'Still fast by movie standards, but I came from doing one episode a day. Now it was one a month, so, in my mind, that was all the time in the world. Setups would take 45 minutes sometimes, so I’d just be asking the director questions, or bothering the DP.'
One of the show's directors of photography, either John Lindley or Ron Fortunato, gave the book The Five C's Of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli, who had himself worked as a cinematographer in the 1960s.
The Pan Am cinematographer told Margot: 'Just read this. You’re asking so many questions, just read this book' - and she still has her copy.
Margot has produced movies including Saltburn, whose director Emerald Fennell (right) and actress Rosamund Pike (center) she is pictured with at the Governors Awards on Tuesday
'He’d probably had enough of me. But I loved this book, I learned so much. I didn’t go to film school or anything, and I would have loved to because I found how much I love learning about this stuff.'
On Barbie she was engrossed by 'the color science. Coming up with a color table. I obviously don’t come up with the color table, but the scientists that do - and they really are scientists - are amazing to me.'
Making Barbie allowed Margot to have a 'reunion' with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, whom she worked with on her star-making turn in The Wolf Of Wall Street.
'Every second on set, he’s adjusting the color table,' said Margot, explaining that during Barbie: 'Whenever I wasn’t in a take I would run to his tent and watch him, because some DPs set the shot and then sit back while everyone else does their thing, but not Rodrigo. He’s constantly adjusting it.'
Margot recalled: 'I was like: "Is this a continuity issue?" And he said: "It would be more of a continuity issue if I weren’t adjusting it. I’m leveling it all the time because it’s changing all the time."'
Her latest magazine interview hit the internet the same day that it emerged her Barbie performance is up for a Screen Actors Guild Award for best lead actress.
She finds herself in a formidable category, facing off against Emma Stone in Poor Things, Carey Mulligan in Maestro, breakout star Lily Gladstone in Killers Of The Flower Moon and Annette Bening in Nyad.
This past Sunday, Margot was up for the Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy film, but lost out to Emma for Poor Things.