Margot Robbie Queen Of Hearts

, shows Robbie standing tall as the 16th-century monarch, donning a ruff collar, voluminous sleeves, an embroidered corset, and a crown that merely peeks out from behind her curly red locks. Two maids tend to her as she looks ahead, completely poised.

) as Mary Stuart with a group of men on horseback. The 23-year-old Irish actress also underwent a transformation, trading in her dirty blonde hair for yellow-orange tresses.

The film follows Mary Stuart's life after she becomes a widowed Queen of France and returns to her homeland of Scotland to claim the throne. Tensions arise between her and Queen Elizabeth I, who rules over England and Stuart's native country.

Inside The Making Of Mary Queen Of Scots With Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan

. It’s complicated, it’s tragic, and it’s bizarre. The only other person in the world who could understand the position they were in was each other.

In addition to Mary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth was also fighting smallpox. Robbie's costume reflected the illness with layers of prosthetics and makeup to give off the appearance of scars. The blemishes were even noticeable from afar in the behind-the-scenes photos.

Robbie revealed that the heavy makeup on her face made her feel almost inhuman and that members of the crew would avoid looking at her. It was nothing intentional, she told

Margot Robbie Says She Was 'lonely' While Transforming Into Queen Elizabeth For Mary, Queen Of Scots

, but I could see that it was uncomfortable for them, and the less they looked at me, the more isolated I felt.

Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at . There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.

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Margot Robbie is the latest actress to take on the role of Elizabeth 1 ( Image: © 2018 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Margot Robbie Is The Queen Of Hearts By Iamrudja On Deviantart

She claimed to have the body of a weak and feeble woman but the heart and stomach of a king – “and a king of England too”.

So the latest star to take on the role really had to dress down with a pockmarked face, heavy white make-up and sparse curly red hair.

“The look was really born out of the fact that Elizabeth I had smallpox really badly, which left 60% of people permanently disfigured and her face badly pockmarked. So we see her in pale makeup and with a receding hairline.”

Maria Stuart, Königin Von Schottland

Playing the Virgin Queen in the Oscar-tipped Mary Queen of Scots, out next month, was daunting for the Australian – and not simply due to the stark look.

She was afraid of taking on the role as she was stepping into such big shoes, as Good Queen Bess has previously been played by Judi Dench, Bette Davis and Margot’s great favourite and fellow Aussie, Cate Blanchett.

“I was terrified about playing a character that has been played by some of the greatest actresses in history, including Cate, who is my absolute acting idol, ” she says.

Mary Queen Of Scots: The Tragic True Story Of Royal Cousins Separated By Scheming Men

If fear was really in the 28-year-old’s DNA she would still be back in Oz starring in soap Neighbours, where she got her big break.

Margot says: “I basically had only three options back then. Either I would have waited until the producers at some point got rid of my character or I would have played the role for ever and led a comfortable life in Australia.

“The third option was to quit and see if I could make it in the US, which offered more chances than Australia. I could have failed but I was willing to risk it.”

Margot Robbie Was Lonely As Mary Queen Of Scots

It paid off big-time as she cracked Hollywood, starring in films like The Wolf of Wall Street, ice skating drama I, Tonya and Suicide Squad – where she stole the screen as Harley Quinn.

Maybe she got her guts from her mum Sarie, who raised her and her three brothers and sisters single-handedly on a farm in Queensland. Margot says: “We didn’t make life easy for her. We were always fighting and mum had to be a strong woman to hold things together.”

Yet she says she had a perfect childhood, adding: “My siblings and I went boar hunting and surfing and I grew up learning more about agriculture and animal husbandry than you could imagine. It was not the kind of upbringing you could have expected would lead anyone into acting.

Inside Margot Robbie's 'unrecognisable' Look In Mary Queen Of Scots

“I’m the kind of person who if you tell me something is impossible, I’m going to do everything in my power to prove you wrong and make it happen. Even when the idea of a Gold Coast girl going to Hollywood seemed a wild dream, that made me want to succeed a thousand times more.”

Despite her Neighbours success and move to the US, her family still thought acting was little more than a hobby to do until she got a proper job.

She laughs: “It took them a few years to realise that being an actress is a profession, and only when they came to visit in New York and I showed them the giant poster of The Wolf of Wall Street in Times Square that they became convinced I was never going to go to uni.”

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Far from resting on her laurels, Margot soon set up production company Lucky Chap with English assistant director husband Tom Ackerley, who she married in December 2016.

Together, they produced I, Tonya – about controversial US figure skater Tonya Harding and an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan. Made for £8.7million, it earned £42million and won Margot a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

She says: “We wound up making I, Tonya instead of going on our honeymoon. But we both believed in this project and we were committed to pursuing our dream.

Watch Margot Robbie And Saoirse Ronan In The First Mary Queen Of Scots Trailer

“It was a struggle to get financing but it was always a sense we were in it together and we worked well getting the film made. But as soon as the film was over we made up for it!”

After the first success of working with Tom she is regularly asked if they will collaborate again soon – on a baby. Margot says: “My standard answer is getting married doesn’t necessarily mean having a baby right after the ceremony.”

The star is renowned for throwing herself heart and soul into a role. When auditioning for The Wolf of Wall Street, she smacked Leonardo DiCaprio in the face. And filming I, Tonya she became so overwrought in one scene she stormed off set, screaming at co-star Sebastian Stan. “I forgot I was acting and nothing makes me more exhilarated than when I genuinely forget where I am, ” she remembers.

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But in real life, Margot insists she is actually bad with conflict, trying to “avoid it at all costs”. Instead, she tries to diffuse tensions before they can escalate.

“I’ve been told by many in showbiz that it’s usually a bad idea to work with loved ones and friends, ” she says. “But I think it’s a huge advantage for me to be able to work with Tom.

“We love each other and know each other so well that we enjoy being able to develop and work on projects together, and overcome all the challenges that you face. Several of my longtime friends also work with me at our company and one of my best friends is my set assistant and so we get to spend a lot of time together.

Margot Robbie And Saoirse Ronan Battle For The Crown In First 'mary Queen Of Scots' Trailer

Margot stars in Mary Queen of Scots with fellow ex-Neighbour Guy Pearce as well as David Tennant and Saoirse Ronan, who has the title role. The film is based on John Guy’s 2004 biography of Mary Stuart and explores the power struggle when a newly widowed Mary returned to Scotland, hoping to reclaim her throne from Elizabeth.

The film builds to a big confrontation between the two – which many historians believe did not actually happen. To make the scene even more dramatic, director Josie Rourke kept Margot and Saoirse apart during shooting.

“We had seen each other as ourselves in rehearsal but never in costume as our characters, ” she says. “They kept us on separate sides of the set and it wasn’t until the moment we literally confront each other for the first time that we saw each other. It felt like a punch in the gut and it just floored me, I fell apart.

Mary Queen Of Scots Review Starring Margot Robbie & Saoirse Ronan

“It was my last day of shooting and I was obsessing about Mary the entire film and there she was, looking young and radiant and she was holding her hand out and knowing that I wasn’t going to take her hand.

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