I, Tonya.
As opposed to, say, You, Tonya?
One might assume that Tonya Harding’s own description of herself is the one to fall back on. But that still only works with regards to those aspects of her life that can be demonstrated to in fact be true. True objectively for all of us.
For example there are the facts embedded in her relationship with Nancy Kerrigan. Certain events can be shown to be true because they did in fact happen. The role Harding played in the attempt to club Kerrigan out of the competition. What can be established here as in fact “reality”?
On the other hand, there are the far more conflicted reactions to what she did. And with respect to all of the complex emotional and psychological variables in play regarding her motivation and intention. What propelled her to do what she did? How is her past connected to the present?
And then it all gets mangled up in class. Tonya, perceived by many as the ungainly product of the working class, and Nancy, perceived by many as a so much more sophisticated and refined product of the better upbringing.
From The Times
Harding and Kerrigan were rivals in a cartoon soap opera about class: Harding was trailer trash and Kerrigan was a hometown beauty queen. Tonya was given her first gun at the age of five and lived in eight homes in six grim towns before she was 18. She smoked and skated to heavy metal music. Nancy was brought up by a loving, stable family, the all-American girl with the perfect teeth.
Only, as the article notes further, In America “class” revolves less around money and more around such things as beauty and culture and style and elegance and polish.
So, what really did happen?
Title card: Based on the irony free, wildly contradictory, and totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly.
Or, perhaps, as Tonya puts it: “And the haters always say, Tonya, tell the truth. But there’s no such thing as truth. I mean it’s bullshit. Everyone has their own truth. And life just does whatever the fuck it wants.”
So, you tell me.
IMDb
[b]Although Margot Robbie trained extensively for the role, she wasn’t able to perform a triple axel, nor could a skating double be found as very few women figure skaters are able to perform the jump, producer Tom Ackerley stated, “There has been only six women since Tonya who have done a triple axel, even if there was one who was doing it today, she’d be training for the Olympics and couldn’t risk doing it for the film.” The jump was accomplished with the use of visual effects.
When Tonya Harding herself first saw the film, she particularly liked the “Suck my dick!” line. She told Margot Robbie that she wished she had actually said that in real life. [/b]
trivia at IMDb imdb.com/title/tt5580036/tr … tt_trv_trv
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Tonya
trailer: youtu.be/OXZQ5DfSAAc
I, Tonya [2017]
Directed by Craig Gillespie
[b]Title card: Based on the irony free, wildly contradictory, and totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly.
…
Mother [to the camera]: Tonya’s my 5th child from husband number 4. She was always a handful. And I guess we spoiled her. Which is a goddamned hat trick when you haven’t got shit your entire life. Still, I drove her to competitions, practices. I sewed her all her costumes. But to her, her mother’s a monster.
…
Coach [to the camera]: Generally people either love Tonya or are not big fans. Just like people either love America or are not big fans. Tonya was totally American.
…
Jeff [to the camera]: I mean at 27 I was the most hated man in America. Maybe the world. Um… with a mustache I still can’t apologize enough for.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: What’s people’s impression of me? That I’m a real person. No. I never apologize for growing up poor or being a red neck. Which is what I am. You know, in a sport where the friggin’ judges want you to be this Old-Timely version of what a woman’s supposed to be…For being the first U.S. Woman To land a triple Axel. So fuck 'em.
…
Title card: Portland, Oregon — 40 years earlier
…
Mother [to Tonya who is a “soft four”]: Go on, skate.
…
Mother [to the camera]: The thing about Tonya was, she skated better when she was enraged. If there was no you can’t do it type of thing, she wouldn’t do it. On the ice, I was there to…inspire her.
…
Tonya: Margie Sussman called us white trash. Mom told me “Spit in her milk!”
Father: I hope you didn’t do that.
Tonya: Not yet… Do you love her, Dad?
Father: I guess. Do you?
Tonya: Yeah.
Father: Like you love me?
Tonya: Nope.
…
Coach: The judges want figure skaters to be…
Mother: Yeah. Rich, prissy, a-Holes
Coach…well rounded. It’s a question of fitting in.
Mother: She’s 12 and she lands fucking triples. She doesn’t fit in. She stands out.
Coach: She stands out because she looks like she chops wood every morning.
Mother: She does chop wood every morning.
…
Mother: You a gardener or a flower, John?
Jeff: It’s Jeff.
Mother: In a relationship there’s a flower and a gardener.
Jeff: Um, I don’t know. I mean I…
Mother: I’m a gardener who wants to be a flower. How fucked am I? This one can’t garden to save her life. You’re gonna have to do all the gardening there fella.
Tonya: Mom!
Mother: What? You two fuck yet?
…
Tonya [to Jeff]: My parents had me quit school so I can concentrate on skating.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: Jeff was the first boy I ever loved. The only catch was he’d beat the living hell outta me. And I thought it was my fault. Nancy gets hit one time and the whole world shits. For me it was an all the time occurrence.
…
Mother: I don’t know, Tonnie. I would never be with someone who fuckin’ hit me.
Tonya: You hit dad.
Mother: That’s different.
Tonya: Anyway he said he was sorry.
Mother: Seriously though. You’re a dumb piece of shit who thinks she deserves to get hit.
Tonya: How’d I get that idea?
Mother: Maybe he should hit you. Yeah. Maybe you’ll learn to keep your big mouth shut. Sure helps me out.
…
Mother [to the camera after a flashback where she sticks Tonya with a knife]: Oh, please! Show me a family that doesn’t have ups and downs.
…
Tonya [to the judges]: Hey! How do I get a fair shot here? Cause I’m up at 5 every morning working my ass off. Does someone wanna just tell me to my face you’re never gonna give me scores I deserve?
Judge: This is how it’s done. Some of these girls have paid their dues.
Tonya: I don’t give a shit! I out-Skated em today.
Judge: We also judge on presentation.
Tonya: Well you know what? If you can come up with $5000 for a costume for me then I won’t have to make one. Till then, just stay out of my face.
Judge: Maybe you’re just not as good as you think. Maybe you need to pick another sport.
Tonya: Suck my dick!
…
Tonya [to the camera]: You do dumb things when you’re young. Like marrying Jeff. The wedding was nice. It made sense at the time. I mean, I could have insurance. Good benefits all around. I mean, he had a car. Plus I was doing 6 hours a day of practice and competitions while I worked at a hardware store. And I ran a forklift, and a drill press and I did welding. [/b]
Cue the triple axle:
[b]Martin [Hard Copy reporter to the camera]: Most people don’t even understand how insanely difficult it is to attempt a triple Axel. There’s a reason no one was trying it.
Coach: You skate backward and then take off from a forward position on your left leg and then somehow…
Mother: Fuckin’ hurl yourself blindly 3 and a 1/2 rotations like you’re light as shit which I’m telling you Tonya never was.
Coach: Land on the opposite foot on the back outside edge of a razor thin blade.
Jeff: It’s that extra half rotation when you already did 3. That made us call Tonya the Charles Barkley of skating. It was bad ass.
…
Coach [to Tonya before a big competition]: No woman in the history of U.S. Figure skating has landed a triple Axel. All those women who came before you, not 1 of them did it. The skating association doesn’t think you can do it. “Trashy Tonya’ doesn’t belong.” Your own mother doesn’t think so. Now show them.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: Oh my God! I mean it was totally the most awesomest thing. Cause leading up it, you’re like I can’t do it! I can’t. And then Bam! I can. And all those people who said I couldn’t make it. Well fuck you. I did! I proved everyone wrong. I was loved. I can’t describe how that felt. There. I mean, there was people standing up. And I was just for the first time, I knew. I knew I was the best figure skater in the world.
…
Jeff: I’m sorry. Nobody ever really asks me about this anymore. I was blind-Sided. As soon as she got back from nationals she was an entirely different person. And that person didn’t want old Jeff no more.
…
Martin [to the camera]: Suddenly Kristi & Nancy were coming in 2nd & 3rd. Tonya was coming at 2nd at world championships & winning Skate America. So the skating community the feeling was like, Oh my god. What the fuck! This is our skating champion?!! Tonya did the triple Axel no one else could or even had the balls to try. Tonya Harding wasn’t the image…
Tonya [to the camera]: Could I interrupt with a quick word about Nancy kerrigan? It’ll just take a sec. Nancy and I were friends. Okay? We were roommates sometimes on the road. But the press wanted Nancy to be the Princess and me to be the pile of crap…to sale papers. I mean what kind of friggin’ person bashes in their friend’s knee? Who would do that to a friend?
…
Tonya [to the camera after failing to do the triple axle at the Olympics]: So I’d broken off my skate blade… 2 days before in practice. And they put it back on a little off. So all my landings were off. All of them. I mean, that wasn’t my fault.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: When you come in 4th at the Olympics, you don’t get endorsement deals. You get the 6 A.M. Shift at spud city.
…
Coach: The Olympic committee announced today that the next Olympics are going to be 2 years instead of 4. No heavy metal. Lose the blue nail Polish.
Tonya: I’m too outta shape.
Coach: Pear is a shape. The world’s giving you a 2nd chance. I know you don’t believe in them but I do.
…
Tonya: I know that you guys don’t like me. But I’m landing all my jumps out there.
Judge: Tonya. It’s never been entirely about the skating. I’ll deny I ever said it honey, but you’re just not the image that we want to portray. You’re representing our country, for fuck’s sake. We need to see a wholesome American family. And you…you just refuse to play along.
Tonya: I don’t have a wholesome American family. Why can’t it just be about the skating?
…
Mother: Poor fuckin’ you. I didn’t stay home making apple brown Bettys. No, I made you a champion! Knowing you’d hate me for it. That’s the sacrifice a mother makes. I wish I had a mother like me. Instead of nice. Nice gets you shit. I didn’t like my mother either. So what? I fucking gave you a gift.
Tonya: You cursed me. You are a monster.
Mother: Spilt milk, baby.[/b]
Cue “the incident”:
[b]Tonya [to the camera]: I mean, it’s what you all came for folks! The fucking incident.
Martin: The incident.
Coach: The incident.
Mother: The fucking incident!
Jeff: Everyone remembers the incident differently and that’s a fact. Some people honest to god remember Tonya whacking Nancy herself.
…
Cop: I’m gonna need to talk with you.
Tonya: Goddammit, Jeff what’d you do?
Cop: We’ve received a death threat.
Tonya: From Jeff?
Cop: Against you.
Tonya: What the fuck?
Jeff: What did they say exactly?
Cop: “If Harding skates today, she’ll get a bullet in the back”.
Tonya: What the fuck?
Coach: How seriously should we take this?
…
Tonya [to the camera]: It’s bullshit! I mean, The FBI found this piece of paper in some random dumpster supposedly in my hand writing with Nancy’s training schedule or something on it.
Martin: It was the arena Nancy skated at and her training times. I mean why do you need training times if all you were doing was mailing letters right? You know, I mean, look, Jeff Gillooly can change his story all he wants to make himself feel better but he confessed to the FBI. Guilty.
Jeff: I told the FBI that Tonya was in on planning it which she was. But the plan was to mail some letters… Tonya didn’t know about the assault cause there was never suppose to be an assault. Just letters.
…
Jess: Sweetie, the death threats off.
Tonya: Whatever!
…
Martin [to the camera after Kerrigan is attacked]: I mean we had no idea that something like this could be done by two of the biggest boobs in a story populated solely by boobs.
…
Tonya [on the phone]: Turn on the fucking TV. It’s everywhere.
Jeff: What are you talking about?
Tonya: Nancy Kerrigan. Some guy just fucking broke her fucking knee.
Jeff: No, no, no, no! It’s supposed to be letters…
Tonya: It’s not a fucking letter Jeff, they broke her fucking knee.
Jess: …like a, like a death threat.
Tonya: Jeff, I’m telling you, forget the death threats, the guy broke her knee.
Jeff [watching the news report on TV]: NOOOOO!!!
…
Mother [watching Jeff on TV]: Fucking mustache.
…
Jeff: Nobody was supposed to get hurt. It was supposed to be psychological warfare, right?
Shawn: What if the psychological warfare didn’t work, What if…it didn’t scare her? Then what? You know all of our hard work would’ve been for nothing.
Jeff: What hard work? It was mailing fucking letters!
…
Shawn: Did you not realize that I was the one who I was the one who called the death threat on Tonya?
Jeff: What?
Shawn: People don’t take me seriously, Jeff. But I am in control of the situations. I proved that today.
…
Martin [to the camera]: Shane Stant was clueless. Before the attack he waited outside the arena in Massachusetts where he thought Nancy Kerrigan was training. Now he moved his car every 15 minutes to avoid suspicion. He did this for two days. That’s when he found out that Nancy was actually in Detroit.
…
Shane: How did you find me?
Cop: Next time you pull off a hit, son, don’t put it on Visa.[/b]
Shane? Think this guy: youtu.be/PS6lNDrCi88
[b]Jeff: We play it cool. After all, we both have alibis.
Tonya: What for? Alibis? For Wheaties?
Jeff: Wheaties? What are you talking about?
Tonya: My endorsement. What are you talkin’ about?
Jeff: The attack.
Agent: Excuse us. We’re with the FBI.
…
Shawn: I never said anything!
Jeff: Then how come they know the name Derrick, Shawn?
Shawn: I don’t know. How could you even ask me that? I could withstand torture and I’d still never talk. They could never break me!
[cut to Shawn spreading the word all over town]
Shawn: The whole Nancy Kerrigan thing? That was my crew. We were paid $65,000 to take her out. Then my team obtained press credentials by beating up a reporter. That’s what gets us inside the rink. Bam! My hit man whacks Kerrigan 3 times with a retractable baton.
…
FBI Agent: Shawn?
Shawn: Jeff, did it! Jeff Gillooly, did it!!
…
Jeff: What part of keeping your mouth shut was unclear, you stupid fucking cunt?
Tonya: There’s…There’s more to this than you’re telling me, isn’t there…?
Jeff: Shut up Tonya I’m telling you!
Tonya: Jeff? Did you do it? Goddamn it. Shit. What the fuck, Jeff? Fuck, what the fuck? I mean, this is my fucking life. This is…Skating is my whole fucking life! What did you do? What did you do? What did you actually fucking do, Jeff?
[Jeff slaps her in the face]
…
Tonya [to the camera]: And then Bam! Nails me right in the freakin’ face. That’s when I fucking knew. I mean he has never admitted to me, wouldn’t care anymore anyways, but he’s never admitted to me that he actually did it. But I knew. In that moment I knew he planned it. And he had it done.
…
Tonya: Look Jeff, I, I mean what did you want me to say? I told them that you did this because you did fucking did this!
Jeff [outside their locked bedroom door]: Tonya, what am I supposed to do? I do not know.
Tonya: I…I really think that you should just kill yourself.
…
Connie Chung [reporting on TV]: Here in Portland Oregon, another day of practice for skater Tonya Harding. She’s still working out everyday right here behind me, fully expecting she’ll compete later this month at the Olympics in Norway.
Matt Lauer: Police and the FBI continue looking into last weeks attack on skater Nancy Kerrigan.
Reporter: Even as the U.S. Figure Skating Association convenes a hearing panel to consider where there are grounds to remove Tonya Harding from the American Olympic team.
Ann Curry: Harding’s former husband said Tuesday that she knew about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan from the beginning.
…
Reporter: Tonya’s mom put out a red velvet rope in front of her house. Told us if we wanted to take her picture we all had to stand behind it. And we did.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: I thought being famous was gonna be fun. I was loved…for a minute. Then, I was hated. Then I was just a punchline. It was like being abused all over again. Only this time it was by you. All of you. You’re all my attackers too.
…
Mother: Hey…hon, did you know about the attack? Well, you can tell me.
[Tonya starts to pat her down]
Mother: What? What are you looking for? What are you… stop it! This is a…
[Tonya finds the tape recorder]
Mother: I still meant everything I said.
Tonya: Get the fuck out of my house! Get out!!! I
…
Tonya: This is bullshit. I shouldn’t have to apologize for something I didn’t do.
Lawyer: Tonya, there’s talk about not letting you skate in the Olympics at all. You need to give them this. We’re hanging on by a thread here.
Tonya: I earned my place on the team fair and square!
Lawyer: Taking out the competition with a retractable baton doesn’t strike everyone that way.
Tonya: I did not know about it!
Coach: And that’s exactly what you’ll say.
…
Tonya to the press]: I had no prior knowledge of the planned assault on Nancy Kerrigan. I am responsible however for frailing…failing…
…
Tonya [to the camera]: Then when the Olympic Committee threatened to take me off the team, I filed a $10 million lawsuit against them. I mean, it was getting ugly.
…
Tonya [voiceover]: But do you think that CBS who was showin’ the games was gonna let this ginormous ratings fucker not happen?
…
Tonya [to the camera]: Can I just say one quick thing about Nancy Kerrigan? So…So my lace breaks which I guess is my fault but really kinda isn’t. And I go out and do the same stuff as everybody else I did not get the marks, because…I didn’t ever have a shot with the judges to begin with. I mean, it was a big story, but I don’t need a big story. I’m a big story on my own when I skate. I did my best and I got 8th. But Nancy…She goes out and gives a beautiful skate, I never said different. She wins a friggin’ silver medal. And when they put that medal around her neck… She looked like she stepped in poo. She does…I mean, come on! How am I the poor sport in all of this? An Olympic silver medal. She looks like she stepped in poo.
…
Judge: Tonya Harding. You are hereby sentenced to 3 years probation, $100,000 fine plus $10,000 to the DA’s office for special costs. Another $50,000 to set up a fund for the Special Olympics. 500 hours community service; a psychological evaluation. And your immediate resignation from the US Figure Skating Association. Banning you for life from all Figure Skating Association competitions and events. So ordered.
…
Tonya [to the judge]: You’re never gonna let me skate again? I’d rather do jail time. Please… They only got 18 months. They got 18 months. I will do that. You can’t…Your Honor. I don’t have an education. All I know is skating. That’s all I know.
…
David Letterman: The 10 best questions Connie Chung asked Tonya Harding earlier. No.10: “Would you walk through the metal detector, one more time, please?” No. 9: “Do you think you could kick my ass?”…
…
Mother [to the camera]: I never see Tonya anymore and this is fine. I could care less. I lead a full life… very happy.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: Once I was banned from figure from figure skating for life, I did not have a lot of options. Did what I had to do to just stay in the public eye and pay the bills. I was the second most known person behind Bill Clinton in the world. That meant something. The people still wanted to see me. So I became a lady boxer. I mean, why not? Violence was always what I knew anyway.
…
Tonya [to the camera]: America, you know…They want someone to love but they want someone to hate. And they want it easy. But what’s easy? And the haters always say, Tonya Tell the truth. But there’s no such thing as truth. I mean it’s bullshit. Everyone has their own truth. And life just does whatever the fuck it wants. That’s the story on my life! And that’s the fucking truth!
…
Title card: LaVona Harding and Tonya have had no contact in several years. Last Tonya heard, LaVona was living in Washington State behind a porn shop.
Jeff Gillooly changed his name to Jeff Stone. After divorcing Tonya he married a woman named Nancy and they opened Nancy Nicole’s Hair/Tanning Salon.
Tonya Harding does professional landscaping, and house painting. She lives in close proximity to Jeff Gillooly but they have no contact. She is happily married with a 7 year old son. She want’s everyone to know she’s a good mother.[/b]