Leonardo DiCaprio

(Manhattan)

“He’s always been my favorite actor. Both he and [director Martin Scorsese] have such massive presences when you’re around them — they’re unstoppable, like this force that keeps moving; they have so much dimension, it sometimes seems impossible to keep up with them,” explains Robbie.

She adds, ”Working with Leo challenged me every single second — the challenge just to keep up with him pushed me and got my acting to a level it’s never been, which is incredibly satisfying.”

Speaking of satisfying, Robbie and DiCaprio have several love scenes in the movie.

She tells the magazine, “We were positioned while they lit around us in one scene, and I kind of pushed Leo’s head to one side and told him he was in my light and he moved out of [it]. He was so incredulous that I had told him to get out of my light, and physically moved him out of the way, he was like, ‘Did you really just do that?’”

“I don’t think anyone has told him to get out of their light in quite some time. He seemed extremely [shocked], but it was kind of funny,” recalls the actress.

Tabloids have falsely linked Robbie to her Focus co-star Will Smith, but on a professional level, she has nothing but praise for the box office star.

“You know, Will is really wonderful,” the actress tells Manhattan. “We do one take that’s hilarious… and the very next take it’s really emotional and sad, and people are crying.”

She adds, “It’s fun — we get to play with different levels all the time. He has the capacity to do both comedy and really serious drama, so there are endless possibilities. I keep getting lucky with my co-stars.”