Sebastian Stan and Margot Robbie in "I, Tonya." Photo courtesy of NEON via AP

By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Steven Rogers was watching the "The Price of Gold," a documentary made for ESPN's "30 for 30" series, when he realized the story of Tonya Harding -- the Portland native whose figure skating career ended in scandal – was more complicated than he thought.

To Rogers, the saga illustrates issues that go far beyond the tabloid-ready tale of Harding’s fall from grace following the notorious 1994 attack on her skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

"It's about class in America, and what we tell women they're supposed to be, and truth, and how we change the narrative to suit our own needs," says Rogers, who wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated movie, "I, Tonya."

“I thought that was very human,” says Rogers, in a phone call from Los Angeles. “And I thought it was all framed by a whole lot of crazy.”

"I, Tonya" has been a success, featuring a critically praised performance by Margot Robbie as Harding, and effective work by Sebastian Stan as Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly. Allison Janney's performance as Harding's mother, LaVona, won Janney awards at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, the March 4 Oscar ceremony and more.

The movie, which comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, has inspired strong reactions. Many viewers come away with a greater sympathy for Harding, after seeing scenes of the skater’s tough, blue-collar upbringing, and Harding suffering physical abuse from her supposed loved ones.

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Allison Janney with her Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and Steve Rogers, right. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

For the “I, Tonya” script, Rogers tracked down Harding and Gillooly, who later changed his name to Jeff Stone.

“I went on the Tonya Harding website,“ Rogers recalls. “I called a number for her agent, and it was a Motel 6 number.”

Despite the wrong number, Rogers made contact with Harding.

“I flew up to Sisters, Oregon, where Tonya was living at the time, about three years ago, to see if we liked each other. We did, and I got her life rights, and interviewed her. Then, I thought, I have to track down Jeff Gillooly.”

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Jeff Gillooly in 1994/The Oregonian/file

Rogers was surprised that Gillooly agreed to talk with him. “When I interviewed him, his story was so wildly different than her story. And I thought, that’s perfect. That’s my way in.”

Gillooly wouldn’t take any money, Rogers says, “for the interview, for life rights, nothing. To this day, he’s never taken a dime.” In their conversation, Rogers recalls, Gillooly said he didn’t want to profit from the demise of Harding’s career.

“He also was kind of confused as to why anybody would want to go see this as a movie,” Rogers says.

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Photo courtesy of NEON via AP

In doing his research, Rogers says, he didn’t talk to Harding’s mother, who has denied being as harsh as she’s portrayed in “I, Tonya.”

“Tonya said she didn’t know whether she was dead or alive and she didn’t know what name she was using,” Rogers says. “I tried to track her down, but I couldn’t.”

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The Oregonian/file, 1994

As to criticisms that “I, Tonya” goes too easy on Harding, Rogers says he’s not surprised.

“I knew when I started that Tonya Harding is a very polarizing individual,” Rogers says. If the film rubs some people the wrong way, he says, “That’s fine. That’s what art does.”

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Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

In terms of what he’d like viewers to take away from “I, Tonya,” Rogers says, “What I hope is that those people who live in the comments section take one step back, and realize there’s more to a story than what you’re given and to not be so quick to judge.”

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Tonya Harding with her mother, LaVona, in 1994. Photo: The Oregonian/file

Many who remember Harding have reduced her to a stereotype, Rogers says. When the Kerrigan attack scandal was playing out in the mid-1990s, the media was all over it. “But we weren’t given a very nuanced portrayal of what happened,” Rogers says. “We were told, this person was a princess, and this one was a villain. These people were all very human, and they had been reduced to a punchline.”

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Associated Press/file

Rogers says he is “very, very proud” of “I, Tonya,” and he didn’t intend to make a statement about Harding’s guilt or innocence.

“I could not say definitely, because I was not there,” Rogers says of the question of Harding knowing about the Kerrigan attack before it happened. The fact that Harding and others tell different stories is, Rogers says, “more interesting than me playing spy, or me playing ‘who-done-it?’” He’s more concerned, he says, “with the things that we tell ourselves in order to live with ourselves.”

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Sebastian Stan, Craig Gillespie, Allison Janney, Steven Rogers, Bryan Unkeless, Tonya Harding, Ricky Russert and Margot Robbie at the Los Angeles premiere of "I, Tonya." Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for NEON

To those who say things like, “you got this fact wrong,” Rogers offers a wry reminder.

“The title card at the beginning says this is based on ‘irony free, wildly contradictory, totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly,’” Rogers says. “That’s what this movie is.”

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