Will Smith & Margot Robbie Discuss Undeniable On-Screen Chemistry In ‘Focus’

Sparks flew between “Focus” co-stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie from the moment they auditioned with one another.

The actors sat down with Access Hollywood‘s Liz Hernandez and told her all about their on-screen connection.

“You cannot create chemistry,” Will told Liz. “It’s like, you can’t. There’s nothing you can do. Like, you either, whatever those things are inside of human beings that [draw people together] and create something, they’re either there or not.”

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Margot explained that she showed up to the “life-changing” audition sleep deprived.

“I hadn’t slept in like 50-something hours,” she told Liz. “And I didn’t have any luggage either, so I [had] wet sneakers on and ripped shorts… Will was late and he comes in and he’s like, ‘I’m sorry I was coming from Queens.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I came from Croatia… and I’m here on time. Just saying.’ And we’ve gone on like a house on fire from that point onwards.”

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In the film, Margot plays Jess, a con artist in the making, who is an on-again, off-again love interest to Will’s character Nicky. The actress described how she mastered the technique of pickpocketing watches.

“The first steal that I did on camera I was really bummed, because I did it and we stopped and they were like, ‘No, no, no. You need to take the watch when you make the move over.’ And, I was like, ‘Yeah, I did. I’ve got the watch.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, we missed it. Ok. We’ll do it again,'” Margot said. “And we did it again and they were like, ‘No, you need to…’ I’m like, ‘I’ve got the watch!’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, OK, no, you need to slow that down and make it a bit obvious to camera.’ And I was like, ‘But I learned how to do it well. I don’t wanna do it [poorly].’ So, I had to steal badly.”

Now that Margot has the “kleptomaniac” trickery down pat, she joked that people better guard their wrists when in her presence.

“‘Hey, I have your watch. You need that back? Hey, what time is it?'” she laughed. “It’s my party trick now.”

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Will – who teased his co-star that “her inner thief was coming out” – explained that he got buff for the movie to help bridge the age gap between himself and Margot, who is half his age.

“I think why I worked out really hard [was so you] can’t really tell when you see us together, but I’m 46,” he explained to Liz. “She was 23.”

“Focus” opens in theaters on February 27.

Paige Feigenbaum

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