One wouldn’t expect that a film described as abiographical sports mockumentary black comedywould humanize its protagonist, but 2017’sI, Tonyamanages to do just that. It tells the tale of figure skaterTonya Harding’s life, from her early days on the ice rink to her spectacular downfall after the infamous attack onNancy Kerrigan, becoming late-night TV show and tabloid fodder for years afterward. It’s a credit given to the entire creative team, especiallyMargot Robbieas HardingandAllison Janneyas her mother,LaVona Golden, that the film walks a fine line between respect and parody, acknowledging Harding’s humanity while depicting the hard-to-believe-its-true events peppered throughout her life and career.And those events are, for the most part, absolutely and undeniably true.
Based on the life of figure skater Tonya Harding, I, Tonya chronicles Harding’s personal life, rise to fame, and subsequent downfall after her involvement in the infamous attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan in 1994. Framed in a mockumentary style that routinely breaks the fourth wall, I, Tonya is directed by Craig Gillespie and stars Margot Robbie and Harding, with Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney as Harding’s ex-husband and overbearing mother respectively.
‘I, Tonya’ Starts With Harding’s Messed-Up Childhood
LaVona Golden was never going to win a “Mother of the Year” award on screen or in life, but was she as bad asI, Tonyamakes her out to be? Just like in the movie,Golden forced four-year-old Tonya to ice skate, shouting,“I paid for you to practice, so you’re going to stay on the ice and practice.“As a result, Harding had no choice but to urinate on the ice. Her young life off the ice wasn’t any better, with reports that confirm Golden did hit her with a hairbrush, and Harding herself asserts that her motherdid throw a knife in her direction, moments that do appear in the film. Not shown in the film? Golden shoving Harding down a flight of stairs.Mike Pliska, who was engaged to Harding briefly,attests to just how awful Golden spoke to Hardingby referencing a phone call he listened to on an extension after Harding had placed second at the 1991 World Championships. He heard Golden tell Harding that her routine was awful and her hair looked terrible, and asked if Harding had gained weight. If moviegoers had trouble believing that Janney’s Golden was really that bad, Pliska thought the same at the time — until he heard it for himself.
At one point in the film, Harding’s half-brother, “creep Chris,” sexually assaults Harding at the age of 15, only Harding is successful in fending him off and leaving him on the ground.In reality, the event was far worse.Chris Davidson, the “creepy Chris” of the film, was 26 when he forced himself on Harding. She warded him off with a hot curling iron to the neck, locked herself in the bathroom, and was able to escape before Davidson broke the door down. He still relentlessly chased Harding, who made it to a neighbor’s house after hitting him with a hockey stick. Police soon came and arrested Davidson. Given the darkly comic tone of the film, it isn’t surprising that the film doesn’t accurately stage the event as it happened, but good that it was, at the very least, referenced.
‘I, Tonya’ Captures Harding’s Rebellious Spirit on the Ice
It’s clear fromI, Tonyathat Harding didn’t stand for the class, grace, and daintiness normally associated with figure skating. She was determined and rough, skating toTone-LocandZZ Topwhile others usedTchaikovskyandStrauss. Harding’s one-time coachDody Teachman(played byBojana Novakovicin the film) is cited in the New York Times as saying, “Tonya’s big deal was that she didn’t want to play the game with the hair, the dress, the look.” Her outsider status in the sport wasn’t due to just nature, however, but also to necessity. Harding and her family couldn’t afford the beautiful sequined garb, so many of her costumes were homemade.Diane Rawlinson(played byJulianne NicholsoninI, Tonya) is quoted in the same New York Times article in 1976 as saying that “Tonya’s a remarkable talent. With financial support, she could become Olympic material.” High praise for someone who was only five years old at the time, and it speaks to the disparity of Harding’s situation in life and on film:an abundance of talent against a lack of finance.
In the film, that disparity comes to a head when Hardingconfronts a table of judgesabout why she was given low scores despite a flawless performance. She asks, “How do I get a fair shot here?” One judge on the panel tells Harding that they judge on presentation while giving her homemade outfit the stink eye, and suggests Harding maybe isn’t as good as she thinks she is, to which Harding retorts with, “Suck my d**k.” It’s a brilliant moment in the film thatperfectly encapsulates Harding’s “me against the world” attitude, only it didn’t really play out like that.
As Harding recounts, “I did not go to the judges on the ice and talk to them like that in front of everyone. When I spoke to the judges they were in the back hallway room telling me you need to have better dresses. I go, ‘Well if you can find me $5,000 to make me a dress then I’ll wear it and I won’t have to sew these anymore.’ I go, ‘You know what? Out of my face!’” On a related note, in the same interview, Harding states that she doesn’t share the same potty mouth as her on-screen persona (“the movie portrayed me as this person who cussed every 10 seconds and I don’t cuss like that”).It’s one of only a few items that Harding found issue with in the film(a second is that she didn’t hunt for rabbits to make her fur coat, but had actually bought it), but she quite enjoyed the movie otherwise.
‘I, Tonya’ Also Documents Harding’s Fall From the Spotlight
In spite of it all, Harding made it to the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championship, where her immense talent ended up landing her in the record books.Harding became the first American woman to land an extremely difficult triple axel, sending her into a display of unabashed joy, amoment that Robbie replicates to perfectioninI, Tonya. The film faithfully recreates Harding’s rise, but also her stunning fall. Harding made the team for the 1992 Winter Olympics but placed a disappointing fourth. Following the Olympics, the events that led to the “incident” are brought to accurate life inI, Tonya. In November 1993, on the day of her competition at the Northwest Pacific Regional Championships, Harding receives a death threat and bows out of the event. The death threat did happen, but where the film hasShawn Eckhardt(Paul Walter Hauser) admitting to Harding’s companionJeff Gillooly(Sebastian Stan) that he was behind the threat, the truth is, per Cosmopolitan, it has never been confirmed. It did inspire the plan to attackNancy Kerrigan(Caitlin Carver), however. Gillooly conspired with Eckhardt on the plan, and why wouldn’t he? Eckhardt had a"résumé [that] would have put James Bond’s to shame,” having trained in counter-espionage and counterterrorism.
They hireShane Stant(Ricky Russert) to carry out the attack, and in the film, he comes off as rather thick. Well, just like how Eckhardt really did sell himself as some sort of super-spy in this reality, Stant really was that incompetent. He cased out the Cobo Center, where the attack took place, in the days prior, moving his car every 15 minutes to avoid suspicion. (This is a huge exaggeration on the part of the film. It was every30minutes in real life.) Nevertheless, the attack and its immediate aftermath did see Stant ram through a locked glass door with his head in an effort to escape — only he’s caught, and in the film, the cop says to Stant, “Next time you pull off a hit, son, don’t put it on Visa.” Whether those words were actually said or not isn’t clear, but, as per Cosmopolitan,the real Stant did charge hit-related expenses to his credit card, and had his girlfriend mail it to him when he forgot it so that he’d be able to rent a car. That’s right, friends, the car he used on the day of the attack.
The players are all charged, but Tonya’s hearing is postponed until after the 1994 Winter Olympics, which proves disastrous for Harding after her boot lace breaks during her routine. Upon her return,Harding does receive punishment for having “hindered prosecution”(she didn’t come forward with what she knew, and exactly how involved she was in the planning and execution of the attack on Kerrigan is debatable), and it is brutal. Harding had to surrender her U.S. Figure Skating Association membership, was later banned for life, sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service, a fine of $100,000, an additional $10,000 to reimburse the prosecution, and the task of setting up a Special Olympics fund of $50,000. Robbie sums up the heartbreak Harding felt that day with a gutting, “All I know is skating.”
In the end, we catch up with what the characters have done in the days following the film’s events, all of which are, again, true. Harding herself did box professionally for a time, dabbled in acting, and took on other assorted odd jobs as a welder, a painter at a metal fabrication company, and a hardware sales clerk at Sears (as per the previously cited New York Times).Overall,I, Tonya’s adherence to the facts is what separates it from other films of its ilk, and successfully challenges what we think we know about Harding. It doesn’t excuse her behaviors, but does shine a light on her circumstances. Oh, and by the way — as mentioned in Time, LaVona Golden did indeed have a parakeet, in case you were wondering.
I, Tonyais available to rent in the U.S. on Apple TV+.
