No, That’s Not Margot Robbie in ‘Ready Or Not,’ It’s Samara Weaving

When I saw the trailer for Ready Or Not—a new dark comedy thriller from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett—I was immediately sold.

“Oh, heck yes,” I thought. “Sign me up for any movie where Margot Robbie kills rich people.” And though I stand by that opinion—I will happily watch any movie where Margot Robbie kills rich people—that was not, in fact, Margot Robbie killing rich people in that trailer. It was Samara Weaving, a 27-year-old Australian actor who bears a striking resemblance to Margot Robbie, but is not Margot Robbie, and has her own impressive Hollywood résumé, thank you very much.

Look, obviously, I was fooled by that hair, bone structure, and indefinable Australian aura. It doesn’t help that Weaving’s Ready Or Not character wears a white lace dress that totally looks like the dresses Robbie is fond of wearing on the red carpet. To be honest, I’m still a little shook—are we sure witchcraft wasn’t involved? The point is, I’m in no position to judge anyone else for making the same mistake. Based on the number of tweets that came up when I searched “Margot Robbie + Ready or Not,” many of you did make that same mistake. But I educated myself, and you need to do the same because an actor of Weaving’s caliber deserves that.

If you’re looking for a title of Weaving’s to watch right now, start with McG’s The Babysitter on Netflix. Like Ready Or Not, The Babysitter is a dark horror-comedy, but this time, Weaving is not the innocent bride defending herself against murderous rich people—she’s the one doing the murdering. Her character, Bee, is every 12-year-old’s dream girl: A sexy babysitter who loves Star Trek and beats up bullies. The only problem is that she’s also in a Satanic cult and stabs people in the head. It’s a role that would have been unbearably manic-pixie-dream-girlish if not for Weaving’s inescapable charm, but she pulls it off. Anyone who can shine through a male gaze like that deserves the world.

Then, of course, there’s SMILF. Even if you haven’t seen an episode of the Showtime comedy from filmmaker Frankie Shaw, perhaps you heard about the controversy surrounding Weaving’s exit from the series, which coincided with the show’s cancellation shortly after. Weaving herself never spoke about her decision to break her contract and leave the show, but several outlets reported the actor quit after she was forced to participate in several “inappropriately handled sex scenes” that breached her contract. That’s a whole other can of worms, but you can still appreciate Weaving’s nuanced portrayal of Shaw’s romantic rival, a deconstruction of the “blonde bimbo” stereotype.

If you want to see Weaving in a weirder, less sexualized role, try Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation of Peter Weir’s dreamy and groundbreaking 1975 Australian film. Weaving plays Irma Leopold, one of the schoolgirls who disappears while on an outing with the class on Valentine’s Day, 1900. Irma is elegant and at times, cruel. The best part is, because this is a turn-of-the-century narrative adapted by women (writers Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison), Weaving escapes the “hot girl” typecast. I’d love to see her in more roles like it.

And of course, I look forward to seeing Samara Weaving—who is not Margot Robbie—in Ready or Not, as a newly-wed who faces off with her rich and apparently murderous in-laws (which include Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, and Andie MacDowell) via a deadly game of hide-and-seek.

Ready or Not opens in theaters on August 21.

Watch The Babysitter on Netflix