Nuclear War Makes Margot Robbie the Last Woman on Earth in ‘Z for Zachariah’

Sandra Miska

A classic science fiction novel is getting the cinematic treatment this month, with Margot Robbie starring as the last woman on Earth in “Z for Zachariah.”

Based on the classic 1974 young adult science fiction novel of the same name by Robert C. O’Brien, “Z for Zachariah” takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in which nuclear war has wiped out most of civilization.

A brunette Margot Robbie plays Ann Burden, a young woman who believes herself to be the last person on Earth.  She has become self-sufficient, growing crops on her family’s farm.  She even has a cow that has also somehow miraculously survived.

Everything changes when Ann comes across John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a scientist who escaped death by wearing a radiation-proof “safe suit,” his own invention.  In a departure from the novel, a third character is introduced almost halfway through the film, mineworker Caleb (Chris Pine), and a love triangle ensues.

Religion vs. science is a theme, as both Ann and Caleb credit their faith for saving them, while scientist Loomis, of course, believes otherwise.  The three come to a head when Loomis wants to tear down a church to use the wood to create a hydroelectric water wheel.

Robbie, a native of Australia, is best known for playing Leonardo DiCaprio’s wife in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a film in which the pair shared plenty of steamy scenes.  Since Chris Pine had never done a sex scene before “Z for Zachariah,” it apparently fell on Robbie to teach him a thing or two.

“He was more nervous than I was.  And it was so weird for me to finally be the one talking the other person through the scene,” Robbie revealed to the NY Daily News.  “I just kind of took the reins and said, ‘How about we go up against the sink then move this way or that?’”

“Z for Zachariah” opens nationwide Aug. 28.