Trivia / Mary, Queen of Scots (2018)

• Dawson Casting: Downplayed. Saorise Ronan was 24 during filming and portrayed Queen Mary at the age of eighteen, although for the most part she was the same age as Mary was during the main events of the film.
• Enforced Method Acting: Saorise Ronan and Margot Robbie stayed away from each other on set and didn't even look at photos of each other in costume until the time came to film the scene of Elizabeth and Mary's secret meeting, so that their reactions to seeing each other for the first time would be more genuine.
• Fake Brit: Australian Margot Robbie as the English Queen Elizabeth I.
• Fake Nationality: Italian David Rizzio is played by Puerto Rican actor Ismael Cruz Córdova.
• Fake Scot:
  • Saoirse Ronan is Irish-American playing the Scottish queen.
  • Zig-Zagged with David Tennant, who is actually Scottish, but uses a thicker accent for John Knox than his natural accent.
• Foreign Language Title: The Japanese market title goes with The Two Queens (ふたりの女王, Futari no Joō), noticeably rendering equal billing to Elizabeth as well.
• Playing Against Type: Margot Robbie is known for her charismatic Ms. Fanservice parts like The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus and Suicide Squad. Playing an English queen in a period piece is quite different. She almost didn't want to take the role until director Josie Rourke wrote her a letter to persuade her.
• Saved from Development Hell: Although Saoirse Ronan joined the project in 2012, it sat on the shelf for years, not getting released until late 2018.
• Tom Hanks Syndrome: This along with I, Tonya marks Margot Robbie going for serious cred after her Ms. Fanservice roles.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Scarlett Johansson was attached in the lead role at some point in 2006 but dropped out.
  • Susanne Bier was set to direct but had to drop out due to schedule conflicts, and Josie Rourke replaced her.

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