Margot Robbie wants to take me to New York.
We’re on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles
and she’s giving me a walking tour of some places they shot Babylon,
her upcoming movie about the vertiginous swirl that was Hollywood in the late 1920s
We’re about to enter the New York back lot—
faux neighborhoods used as stand-ins for various cities
when a security guard stops us with an “Excuse me, where are you heading?”
We try saying “that way” and walk like we own the place.
The guard isn’t buying it.
He asks what production we’re with. This is where I expect my tour guide to say,
“I’m Margot Robbie.”