THE NEW YORK TIMES – When Josie Rourke made her pitch to direct âMary Queen of Scots,â about the royal rivalry between the Scottish ruler Mary Stuart and the English Queen Elizabeth I, she suggested thinking of the movie as a renaissance version of âHeat.â Like that thriller, which cast Al Pacino and Robert De Niro on opposite sides of the law, âwhat the film needed was a really great scene for two women to play opposite each other,â Rourke said.
Much of âMary Queen of Scotsâ (due Friday) builds to that moment when Mary and Elizabeth finally meet â a cinematic flourish, as historians believe the two communicated only by letter. The filmâs scene is the sort of centerpiece that only works if you know the women playing it are formidably matched equals offscreen, too. In casting Margot Robbie as Elizabeth opposite Saoirse Ronanâs Mary, Rourke found a pair so well-matched that they even competed against each other for last seasonâs best actress Oscar.
Ronan was nominated then for âLady Bird,â a coming-of-age tale that signaled the 24-year-old actressâs interest in playing complicated young women, while Robbie was in the mix for her performance in âI, Tonyaâ as the disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, proving the 28-year-old actress could play roles quite unlike her breakout bombshell in âThe Wolf of Wall Street.â The two women sit atop Hollywoodâs young A-list, but Ronan and Robbie both bristle at traditional notions of how an actress â or, for that matter, a queen â is expected to wield that power.
(Read the rest of the interview at the source)