Most productions encourage their lead actors to spend time together before filming so their onscreen chemistry looks natural. But when ‘Mary Queen of Scots‘ went into production in 2018, things were quite the opposite. Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan deliberately kept their distance for almost the entire shoot, meeting only when the cameras rolled for the film’s climactic confrontation.
The decision had nothing to do with scheduling or behind-the-scenes tension. In fact, Robbie and Ronan came up with the idea themselves, keeping a major goal in mind. As it turned out, the experiment shaped far more than a single sequence.
Margot Robbie And Saoirse Ronan Wanted Real Weight
In the film, Ronan portrayed Mary, Queen of Scots, while Robbie played Elizabeth I. Before filming began, Robbie and Ronan agreed they would not meet until they had to perform together for a dramatic confrontation. For both of them, it was something they had never tried before.
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Ronan later explained why the approach appealed to her. “It really helped me. It was Margot and I that both agreed from the very beginning that we didn’t want to see each other, and we thought it would be quite a fun experiment to try, because I had certainly never tried that before.”
The timing made the experiment even more unusual. Robbie started filming first, while Ronan was away for three weeks before joining the production. During that time, the English court scenes were already underway, but Ronan knew very little about what was happening on the other set.
“To know… this whole world was existing that I didn’t really know anything about was exhilarating,” Ronan told Deadline. “You were sort of guessing what they were up to, and who was in alliance with who.” By the time they finally stood opposite each other, that curiosity had turned into genuine anticipation.
The Separation Reflected Two Completely Different Lives
Director Josie Rourke wanted the film to avoid the stiffness often associated with historical dramas. Instead, she encouraged both actresses to remember that Mary and Elizabeth I were still young women carrying enormous responsibilities.
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Ronan said Rourke wanted the story to feel “quite young and youthful” because period dramas can become “a bit stodgy.” Mary returned to Scotland at just 19 years old with her ladies-in-waiting, bringing music, dancing, and celebration to a court unprepared for them.
At the same time, the film explores how quickly that freedom disappeared once politics and expectations took over. Meanwhile, Robbie’s experience looked very different. While Ronan filmed scenes surrounded by Mary’s closest companions, she often worked alone as Elizabeth.
“The isolation and the loneliness Elizabeth feels is definitely a huge part of her story,” Robbie said. Knowing Ronan and the actresses playing the Four Marys were “always having so much fun” only reinforced that feeling. “I would sit there and just be thinking, ‘I just want to be hanging out with girlfriends and doing fun things.’”
“I was sitting alone in a room doing things with flowers.” She added that Elizabeth almost wanted to live through Mary, admiring the freedom to fall in love, build friendships, and rule in ways she knew she never could.
Their Only Scene Carried Months Of Built-Up Emotion
Rourke scheduled the confrontation near the end of Robbie’s shoot and the beginning of Ronan’s. By then, both actresses had spent months imagining each other’s worlds instead of experiencing them together.
When they finally met in costume, the separation paid off. Ronan later said the scene felt different because of everything they had built on their own. “We were acting definitely, but it was personal,” she said. “It became a very, very emotionally loaded day for us.”
Once Rourke called cut, the emotions did not disappear. Ronan later revealed that she and Robbie were “blubbering like idiots” as they hugged each other after finishing the scene.
They had spent months avoiding one another to strengthen a single moment on screen. It was an unusual approach, but for Robbie and Ronan, the distance helped make their only meeting feel as emotionally charged as the rivalry at the heart of ‘Mary Queen of Scots.’
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