
The story of Nancy Kerrigan being attacked after a figure skating practice was not an inherently funny one, at the time. The attack was orchestrated by Jeff Gilooly, the then-husband of figure skater Tonya Harding, who also had knowledge of the plan. Kerrigan was attacked by assailant Shane Stant in order to keep her from competing in the United States Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympics, though she managed to recover in time for the Olympics.
The story dominated the news cycle at the time. Harding and Gilooly became some of the most hated figures in America for their petty and vengeful attack on Kerrigan. Despite the dark nature of assaulting an athlete with intent to injure, some of the story's absurd details seemed perfect for film adaptation. "I, Tonya" tells the story with a dark humor and heavy use of unreliable narrators, the most prominent of whom are Harding and Gilooly themselves.
The story dominated the news cycle at the time. Harding and Gilooly became some of the most hated figures in America for their petty and vengeful attack on Kerrigan. Despite the dark nature of assaulting an athlete with intent to injure, some of the story's absurd details seemed perfect for film adaptation. "I, Tonya" tells the story with a dark humor and heavy use of unreliable narrators, the most prominent of whom are Harding and Gilooly themselves.
- 10/11/2022
- by Matt Rainis
- Slash Film


It was the sports scandal that rocked the world.
Seven weeks before the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Tonya Harding’s skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan, was clubbed on the knee by an assailant.
Authorities soon determined that Harding was involved and that her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had allegedly hired the attacker. For the media, the narrative was perfect: Kerrigan was the pretty, poised, innocent victim. Harding was the rough-around-the-edges assailant from the wrong side of the tracks.
Almost 24 years later, Margot Robbie is immortalizing the infamous skater in the highly anticipated I, Tonya — a biopic that offers a surprisingly sympathetic view at Harding’s life before,...
Seven weeks before the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Tonya Harding’s skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan, was clubbed on the knee by an assailant.
Authorities soon determined that Harding was involved and that her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had allegedly hired the attacker. For the media, the narrative was perfect: Kerrigan was the pretty, poised, innocent victim. Harding was the rough-around-the-edges assailant from the wrong side of the tracks.
Almost 24 years later, Margot Robbie is immortalizing the infamous skater in the highly anticipated I, Tonya — a biopic that offers a surprisingly sympathetic view at Harding’s life before,...
- 4/13/2018
- by Ale Russian
- PEOPLE.com
In the wake of I, Tonya's popularity, Shane Stant — the man who assaulted figure skater Nancy Kerrigan with a police baton — is telling his side of the story.
In a new trailer for the documentary My Hero's Shadow, Stant recounts the incident, the planning that went into it and the time he spent in prison as a result. If you mentally believe that you belong somewhere, then no one will question you,” Stant says in the trailer, describing how he bypassed security to gain access to Kerrigan. “I was timing the movements of the cameramen. He followed [Kerrigan], he put the camera...
In a new trailer for the documentary My Hero's Shadow, Stant recounts the incident, the planning that went into it and the time he spent in prison as a result. If you mentally believe that you belong somewhere, then no one will question you,” Stant says in the trailer, describing how he bypassed security to gain access to Kerrigan. “I was timing the movements of the cameramen. He followed [Kerrigan], he put the camera...
- 2/20/2018
- by Allison Crist
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Consider this one a weird coda to “I, Tonya.” Justin Young’s upcoming documentary “My Hero’s Shadow” flips the infamous tale of Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and “why why why” attacks on wholly innocent knees to focus on one of the actual perpetrators of the 1994 crime: Shane Stant. Those who remember the incident may also remember that it was Stant — not Harding, not her husband Jeff Gillooly — who actually swung the baton that hit Kerrigan and almost took away her Olympic dreams. Now he has his own story to tell.
The new documentary promises to show Stant telling “his full story,” including “the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, to the detailed planning and execution of the attack and how prison forever changed him. We also see this notorious hitman through the eyes of his younger sister. While the outside world only knew Shane’s violent past,...
The new documentary promises to show Stant telling “his full story,” including “the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, to the detailed planning and execution of the attack and how prison forever changed him. We also see this notorious hitman through the eyes of his younger sister. While the outside world only knew Shane’s violent past,...
- 2/20/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The key sequence in I, Tonya, when Shane Stant, a thug for hire played by Ricky Russert, whacks Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver) is a stylistic departure from most of the rest of the movie, which stars Margot Robbie as disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding. Director Craig Gillespie mostly plays fast and loose, using documentary-style interviews with the principal characters and lots of voiceover, plus moments that break the fourth wall — but for the attack itself, he wanted a suspenseful sequence that plays out in real time.
"We take the time to walk with him through the arena past everyone,...
"We take the time to walk with him through the arena past everyone,...
- 2/14/2018
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News


While Tonya Harding has remained adamant that she was not involved with the planned 1994 attack against skating rival Nancy Kerrigan, not everyone is convinced.
Former Multnomah County deputy district attorney Norman Frink, who headed the Oregon investigation against Harding, tells People that Harding, “was involved up to her neck right from day one.”
Seven weeks before the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Harding’s skating rival, Kerrigan, was clubbed on the knee by an assailant. A man later identified as Shane Stant struck Kerrigan in the knee with a baton after she walked off the ice in January of that year, during practice for the U.
Former Multnomah County deputy district attorney Norman Frink, who headed the Oregon investigation against Harding, tells People that Harding, “was involved up to her neck right from day one.”
Seven weeks before the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Harding’s skating rival, Kerrigan, was clubbed on the knee by an assailant. A man later identified as Shane Stant struck Kerrigan in the knee with a baton after she walked off the ice in January of that year, during practice for the U.
- 1/31/2018
- by Mia McNiece
- PEOPLE.com


Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”), Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”), Meryl Streep (“The Post”) and Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”) have long been our predicted Best Actress Oscar nominees. If they all make the cut, along with their films in Best Picture, they’d join a very exclusive club: It’d be first Best Actress slate in 40 years and just the fifth overall where everyone is in a film nominated for Best Picture.
The only other times this has occurred were for the film years 1934, 1939, 1940 and 1977 — but many of them come with caveats. In 1934, there were still only three acting nominees — winner Claudette Colbert (“It Happened One Night”), Grace Moore (“One Night of Love”) and Norma Shearer (“The Barretts of Wimpole Street”) — and 12 Best Picture nominees, before the academy standardized the categories to five each. This was also the infamous year of the write-in...
The only other times this has occurred were for the film years 1934, 1939, 1940 and 1977 — but many of them come with caveats. In 1934, there were still only three acting nominees — winner Claudette Colbert (“It Happened One Night”), Grace Moore (“One Night of Love”) and Norma Shearer (“The Barretts of Wimpole Street”) — and 12 Best Picture nominees, before the academy standardized the categories to five each. This was also the infamous year of the write-in...
- 1/19/2018
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby


For decades, Tonya Harding repeatedly denied she knew about plans to harm Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. But, for the first time ever, Harding revealed in ABC's Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story special Thursday that she had an inkling something might happen. At the time, she overheard her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his friend, Shawn Eckardt, plotting to "take somebody out" just before the attack was carried out. Eckhardt and Gillooly (who changed his surname to Stone in 1995) served 18-month prison sentences for conspiring to assault Kerrigan; Shane Stant, who clubbed Kerrigan's right leg with a police baton, and Derrick Smith, who drove the getaway car, also went to...
- 1/12/2018
- E! Online


Disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding is opening up about the 1994 attack on former U.S. Olympic team teammate Nancy Kerrigan, telling ABC News in a new interview she was a “pawn” in the plot to injure her rival but added, “I knew that something was up.” On the eve of the Lillehammer games 24 years ago, Kerrigan was struck on the knee with a baton by Shane Stant — a man hired by Harding’s former husband, Jeff Gillooly. Harding wasn’t officially charged in the attack, but pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution. In a new two-hour interview with ABC News.
- 1/2/2018
- by Sean Burch
- The Wrap


Former figure skater Tonya Harding opened up in a recent interview about her life now, her childhood, and her infamous past in an interview that will air in early January as part of a new two-hour special.
In the interview, with ABC News correspondent Amy Robach, Harding discusses the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, which dominated headlines for weeks in early 1994.
“The media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all,” Harding tells Robach in a clip from the interview, which is shown above. “I am always the bad person. Is it...
In the interview, with ABC News correspondent Amy Robach, Harding discusses the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, which dominated headlines for weeks in early 1994.
“The media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all,” Harding tells Robach in a clip from the interview, which is shown above. “I am always the bad person. Is it...
- 12/21/2017
- by Chris Harris
- PEOPLE.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.