Margot Robbie has played her fair share of characters based on real people, including in The Wolf Of Wall Street and in the upcoming Goodbye Christopher Robin. Now she's ready to tackle royalty, figuring out a deal to play Queen Elizabeth opposite Saiorse Ronan in Mary Queen Of Scots.
Mary Queen Of Scots is of course one of those endlessly re-examined stories: the tragic/hapless Scottish queen lived a life marred by death, high drama and international intrigue. As a baby she was engaged to the heir to the French throne, who she later married – but he died young and she returned to Scotland to be the centre of conspiracies both romantic and political. Cue failed marriages, disastrously bad decisions, possible murders, imprisonment and a serious falling out with her cousin Elizabeth I.
Josie Rourke is on to direct the latest iteration of the film, which has been caught in the development wringer for more than a decade. Originally scripted by Jimmy McGovern, it has attracted the likes of Scarlett Johansson and director Phillip Noyce, but Working Title and Focus Features have never quite got it all to gel (Ronan, for example, has been attached since 2012). The companies are hoping that changes thanks to the latest casting and a fresh screenplay from House Of Cards' Beau Willimon that adapts John Guy's The True Life Of Mary Stuart. But if you're hoping to see the film, Variety cautions that its has yet to be officially greenlit.
Elsewhere in Robbie-as-real-person news, she recently finished filming I, Tonya, which sees her playing ice skater Tonya Harding.