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Considering the mania and absolute obsession over the Barbie<\/em> movie last summer, one might guess it was an easy sell to Hollywood studios. Wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMovies are a crazy business where you are selling something that isn\u2019t tangible, it\u2019s an idea,\u201d Margot Robbie, the illustrious Australian actress who played Barbie in the beloved movie that made a whopping $1.4 billion at box offices, told The Times<\/em><\/a>. \u201cYou have no idea how much it\u2019s going to make, who\u2019s going to see it, if they\u2019ll see it or how it will be received.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s been more of a sure thing for Robbie is the recent launch of her gin brand Papa Salt<\/a>, which was inspired by her many nights out clubbing in London\u2019s Clapham neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis feels a lot more straightforward, it\u2019s easier to predict things,\u201d Robbie said of getting into the alcohol business. \u201cYou can lay this out on a spreadsheet in a way that you can\u2019t lay out a movie idea.\u201d <\/p>\n In other words, it\u2019s much more tangible to sell a product than an idea, and she has a team of friends\u2014Charlie Maas and Regan Riskas as well as her husband Tom Ackerley\u2014in business with her.\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea for the subtly flavored gin goes all the way back to when Robbie would pack vanilla tea bags in her purse during her nights out at Infernos, a nightclub frequented by her and \u201cthousands of other Aussie Londoners,\u201d she told The Times. <\/em>Gin and tonics were her go-to drink, but that doesn\u2019t mean they always tasted good.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you pop one into a terrible G&T, it suddenly tastes great. My handbag would be littered with them,\u201d she recalled. <\/em>\u201cI\u2019d buy a round and then just hand [out the tea bags].\u201d<\/p>\n Robbie and her fellow Papa Salt cofounders were on a mission to make a gin that could \u201ccomplement any soda, taste great with tonic, and make a mean martini,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website. It took them 59 recipes to get there, but now they\u2019re selling an \u201ceasy-drinking gin that celebrates the subtle taste of native Australian botanicals,\u201d such as zesty wax flower, hibiscus, and citrus peel. Nutty wattleseed (an edible seed from Australia), pink peppercorn, and oyster shell are also complementing flavors.\u00a0<\/p>\n While it was easier to sell an idea for a gin brand than a movie, that didn\u2019t mean it was completely effortless to make a great-tasting alcohol. Robbie traveled to Australia to meet with Brian Restall, the owner of a wildly popular distiller there<\/a>, and they got \u201cabsolutely sh***faced\u201d together discussing the idea for the brand. But it didn\u2019t take long for Restall to be sold on the idea, according to a Forbes Australia <\/em>article.<\/p>\n While Barbie<\/em> undoubtedly smacked Robbie back into the spotlight last summer, she\u2019s been in several other hit movies and TV shows. She got her start on Australian soap opera Neighbours<\/em>, in which she appeared in more than 300 episodes. She played Jordan Belfort\u2019s glamorous wife Naomi Lapaglia in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, <\/em>which made nearly $407 million at box offices. She also stared as Jane Ported in The Legend of Tarzan<\/em> and as Harley Quinn in the Suicide Squad <\/em>movies.\u00a0<\/p>\n But her big recognition came when she won an Academy Award for her role as Tonya Harding in the biopic I, Tonya<\/em>, which landed her a role as Queen Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots<\/em>. She infamously, though, didn\u2019t win an Academy Award for her performance in Barbie<\/em>\u2014and neither did producer Greta Gerwig<\/a> in what\u2019s been considered one of the biggest snubs in awards history. Barbie <\/em>was the highest-grossing film of 2023, and in turn, Robbie brought home the biggest payday of any woman in Hollywood<\/a> last year\u2014$12.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robbie is worth an estimated $60 million<\/a>, which includes proceeds from the films in which she\u2019s starred as well as from LuckyChap Entertainment, a production company she started with her friends and husband.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s only so much you can do as an actor,\u201d Robbie told Marie Claire Australia<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in 2023. \u201cAs a producer you get to be a part of the conversations about who is being hired and in what roles and how much they\u2019re getting paid.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nHow much Margot Robbie is worth<\/h2>\n
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