Margot Robbie to play tragic trapeze artist Lillian Leitzel in Queen of the Air

Margot Robbie will play a trapeze artist in new film, Queen of the Air.

The Australian actress has been cast as tragic circus star Lillian Leitzel in the film adaptation of Dean N. Jensen’s 2013 nonfiction book of the same name.

The film will follow Leitzel’s volatile love affair with fellow acrobat Alfredo Codona up until their deaths.

Leitzel was an acrobatic sensation in the 1920s who was famed for her signature move, the one arm plange.

At 4 foot 9 inches tall, she would turn up to 100 times and dislocate her shoulder at every turn.

Leitzel – who was the first inductee into the International Circus Hall of Fame – died during a live performance in 1931 when her rigging snapped.

Cat Vasko is penning the script while Andrew Lazar of American Sniper fame will produce. It is not yet know who will direct the film.

Robbie is no stranger to acrobatics. The actress attended circus school as a child and received her “trapeze certificate” when she was eight.

She most recently showed off her aerial maneuvers in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad as the fantastically psychotic anti-hero Harley Quinn.

She starred alongside Will Smith, Cara Delevingne and Jared Leto - who played her love interest, The Joker.

The film was criticised for Leto's little screen time, but Robbie recently addressed the claims and said his scenes were cut to avoid confusion.

“They probably realised that the emotional through-line of the story had to be the mission that we were on, and explaining the Enchantress’ position and all that kind of stuff," she told Tipsy Talk host Hazel Hayes.

"And the [Harley and Joker] backstory stuff, though it’s magic and some of the stuff we shot was insane, they are flashbacks…So there’s a lot, but it just didn’t make sense to confuse the present storyline to incorporate all that.”

Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.