I, Tonya's Choreographer Breaks Down the Triple Axel Scene

I'm Sarah Kawahara and I'm the choreographer for I, Tonya.

This is Notes on a Scene.

We are going to look at where Tonya Harding

lands the triple axel.

She is the first U.S. woman to do so in competition

and that's what makes this moment iconic.

[Tonya Voiceover] You said I couldn't make it.

Well fuck you, I did.

I proved everyone wrong.

As a choreographer,

I had to really study all of her competitions

and her skating style, her stroking style.

I had about four months with Margot Robbie.

The choreography was quite simplistic

if you compare it to today's choreography.

It really personified her personality,

which was very aggressive.

She just really didn't care what people thought.

Hey Tanya, you suck.

What is this, rednecks on ice?

She just wanted to put herself out there

and be given the credit that she felt was due.

[Announcer] Here now is Tanya Harding.

Second half of the original program.

Just 20 years old from Portland, Oregon.

Great power, great speed, great athletic ability.

So here she is entering and that is indeed Margot Robbie

skating onto the ice.

When she did her stop, she stopped with her left foot.

Her left foot is her lead foot, she's a surfer.

Her stop is a left hockey stop.

She did it very well and with great confidence.

So with this opening position,

the director, Craig Gillespie,

he really wanted us to create a shot

that was gonna be so different to sports.

A crane shot, very, very high crane.

And she had to hit the mark

getting her hand in this position

in line with the crane.

We did it several times.

It looks so simple, but the line up is just so important.

And it is an iconic shot.

He's really right.

It was a great shot.

(light music)

I was lucky enough to have two great doubles.

And one was from L.A., Anna Malkova,

and the other was from Boston, Heidi Munger.

They both could do all the triples, except for the axel.

So this is all Margot through here

and she goes into the crossover.

This now becomes the double

going into I'd say a crossover into the spin.

(light music)

We had to shoot the spin a few times

because it's really important

to hit your mark and stay there.

And if you're a skater,

there's always a tendency to travel a little bit

and when this is such a money shot,

it was important for her to be really centered.

So this is a camel change camel.

And she goes from a foreword camel on her left foot,

to changing to right back camel.

(light music)

Face replacement techniques were used.

This is an actual freeze-frame.

And it's a hybrid of their two faces together.

Of the double, Anna Malkova and Margot Robbie.

You don't really realize that when it's spinning so fast.

Margot Robbie would do all the transitions.

We worked really hard on being able to go into a spin,

get out of a spin, skate onto the ice,

do the arm movements that were in the choreography,

it was a way that it would edit together more seamlessly.

Now we are back on the double on Anna

and she's getting ready to do her first triple lutz.

[Announcer] First, a triple lutz.

(inspirational music)

It was nicely done.

There's the prep, the takeoff,

the revolutions in the air, and the landing.

This look right here with her arm coming over,

that was the prep.

So the prep was actually done by Margot.

You tap with your right toe, it's right toe assist,

triple lutz is three revolutions in the air.

As you'll see in the next couple scenes,

they really do an acute breakdown of the jump.

This is the transition, this would be the double.

And she's getting ready to do the triple axel.

Tonya Harding's coach named Dody Teachman,

really felt that the triple axel

was what was going to separate her from the pack.

[Announcer] Now we will find out whether she will be

the first American to attempt and complete

a triple axel jump.

We'll know that here, whether she tries it or not,

This is Margot in the prep,

and now we're going into the takeoff.

This would be the double.

Taking off on a forward left outside edge.

What makes the triple axel so difficult,

is that it has an extra half a rotation in the air.

Most triples are back to back.

You take off backwards and you land backwards.

But the only jump that you take off foreword

and you lack backward, is a triple axel.

(crowd erupts)

[Announcer] Good girl!

Isn't that great?

(crowd cheers)

♪ Everybody calls me ♪

♪ Little girl bad ♪

♪ Bad girl, bad girl ♪

♪ Everybody blames me ♪

[Tonya Voiceover] Oh my God, I mean it was totally

the most awesomest thing.

'Cause leading up to it, you're like I can't, I can't,

and then bam, I can.

This is the takeoff Heidi Monger from Boston, double.

And they used a special camera called a phantom camera.

This phantom camera specializes in slow-mo.

Gives you the extreme detail.

Which is extremely high resolution.

And so they can get the detail of the takeoff.

Pushes off, there's no assist,

that's what makes this jump harder to do.

We're able to achieve the extra revolution

because we're able to do a double axel,

which is two and a half revolutions in the air.

We must have shot at least 30 double axels.

So through editing magic we were able to achieve

the extra rotation.

Margot did some special shots for the face replacement.

For the effects, she would be positioned in front

of a green screen.

Right in front of the camera, and she had to do it

at least, I would say 2500 different positions

with her head and her torso.

There's the last rotation, and land.

Clean landing on the back right.

This is the iconic celebration of landing the jump.

And Margot did this all by herself.

The landing, she actually did the landing

and then she had to turn forward.

I think it sounds really easy, oh I'm going backwards,

I'm gonna turn forward, it's only 180 degrees.

And she said, 180 degrees,

it's like I have to turn my body all the way around there?

I thought, you know, I think I can get same illusion

if we do 90 degrees.

They position their cameras in order to give the illusion

that she did 180 degrees instead of 90 degrees.

[Tonya Voiceover] Those people who said I couldn't make it

well fuck you, I did.

I proved everyone wrong.

♪ Feels like the first time ♪

♪ Feels like the very first time ♪

♪ It feels like the first time ♪

♪ It feels like the very first time ♪

So continuing on in the program,

this is the footwork that she did.

This is the double doing the footwork.

It's the death drop spin.

So she changes to a forward scratch spin.

Margot learnt to spin a little bit.

I taught her the exit of the spin.

To the stop, to the final position.

So this gets edited from the double to Margot.

Spin exit final position.

The style of choreography was very 80s.

And so there are a lot of sharp angles.

And also it really suited her personality

and the way that she moved naturally.

So this kind of end position was very apropos to the time.

Most important to recognize is the steady cam,

Dana Morris, who was a skater in hockey skates.

90% of the skating shots were his.

I think choreographically, I've stayed very very close

to the original.

And I'm very proud of how it actually got on the screen.

Bringing it to life, breathing life into it,

this was perhaps my greatest challenge.

(crowd cheering)

♪ Together we'll make history ♪