Episode 82: I, Tonya, in Honor of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Starring Margot Robbie as Figure Skater Tonya Harding! - Biopic: A Podcast Story | Lyssna här

Sara would like to make it very clear that she doesn’t have experience in hiring a hitman in this episode about 2017’s amazing and revelatory I, Tonya, the story of Tonya Harding and 1994’s “the incident.” While it’s pretty difficult to turn Margot Robbie and Sebastian Stan into anything besides the most beautiful freaks walking God’s green earth, their outstanding performances go the distance to transform them into, respectively, one of the most polarizing and exciting figure skaters the U.S. has ever seen and one of our most hapless criminal masterminds.

This episode is pretty freewheeling as we discuss how the 1990s was a hellacape of cruelty (we were kids; what’s your excuse again, Jay Leno?), our memories of watching these events unfold, the deep intricacies of figure skating scoring history, and the man who should be king, PAUL. WALTER. HAUSER.

We also try to figure out: should we even say Derrick’s name? Did the Ukrainian skaters have access to a Zamboni (btw, Slava Ukraini!)? Does Rena know who Richard Marx is?

I, Tonya was directed by Craig Gillespie and stars Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding, Sebastian Stan as Jeff Gillooly, Allison Janney as LaVona, Julianne Nicholson as Diane Rawlinson, Paul Walter Hauser as Shawn Eckard, Bobby Cannavale as Martin Maddox, Bojana Novakovic as Dody Teachman, Caitlin Carver as Nancy Kerrigan, Maizie Smith as Tonya Harding (3 1/2 Yrs), Mckenna Grace as Tonya Harding (8-12 Yrs), Anthony Reynolds as Derrick Smith, and Ricky Russert as Shane Stant.

Sources used in the episode include…

Sharp Edges, directed by Sandra Lucknow, a documentary on Tonya Harding that was made in 1986, when she was just 15.

Tonya Harding Would Like Her Apology Now, by Taffy Brodesseur-Akner, New York Times, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/movies/tonya-harding-i-tonya-nancy-kerrigan-scandal.html

A Fact-checked Guide to I, Tonya

https://www.vulture.com/2017/12/a-fact-checked-guide-whats-true-and-whats-not-in-i-tonya.html

And many, many online videos.

And for the heck of it:

Chess for Girls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YSQJXMbUI

Chris Farley skates with Nancy Kerrigan

https://www.wckg.com/chris-farleys-snl-figure-skating-sketch-turns-25-today-and-its-still-a-classic/