An Emotional Scene In ‘Mary Queen Of Scots’ Left Saoirse Ronan & Margot Robbie “Blubbering Like Idiots”

There’s a lot of Oscar buzz around the upcoming film “Mary Queen of Scots.” The historical film tells the sort-of true story of Queen of England Elizabeth I and her rivalry with the titular Queen of Scots. The anticipation around the film comes mainly from the two actresses playing those roles, Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan, respectively. Last year, both were nominated for Best Actress Oscars, and this year, the same could happen. But it’s not going to be because of their on-screen chemistry.

For those not familiar with the true story behind the film, I guess this might be considered a spoiler? But really, can you spoil historical events that happened hundreds of years ago? I digress.

The two real-life confrontation between the two Queens actually never existed in person. Historians believe that the two women actually never met in person. However, in the film, you can’t have Robbie and Ronan never meet. So, the director took some artistic liberties with the story and allowed the characters to meet one time. And according to the actresses, it was incredibly emotional.

“We really, really didn’t want to see each other,” Ronan says (via EW). “I love Margot and wanted to hang out, but we wanted [the meeting] to be this special thing.”

“We were blubbering like idiots,” Ronan continues. “We just held each other for ages, we wouldn’t let go. We were like” — she lowers her voice to demonstrate their sobbing — “‘Huohooouuughh.’ I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

Robbie explains why the scene was so emotional for her, “They have this sisterhood, this love for each other, but the love is complicated by the fact that each one’s survival threatens the other. It’s a love story between these two characters. A very, very complicated love story.”

“Mary Queen of Scots” is the directorial debut of prominent theatre director Josie Rourke. And according to the filmmaker, the scene between the two actresses was her entire reason for the film to exist. “The whole conception of the film for me was around that meeting,” Rourke says. “We really wanted to have our version of that famous scene, with these two women looking at each other and being confronted with their choices — their personal choices, their political choices. It’s a moment that’s deeply personal.”

Rourke also has some more modern examples to help illustrate the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary. And this may be surprising or some film fans, but she likens the relationship to a pretty iconic comic book rivalry. “If you’re doing Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, you spend more time with Holmes, and if you’re doing Batman and the Joker, you tend to be [sympathetic] with Batman, but to power the story along, the [protagonist] is locked into an amazing psychodrama with a character who is both like him and the opposite,” she says. “What I really wanted to do was a movie in which two women got to do that.”

“Mary Queen of Scots” is expected to release in theaters December 7.

Here’s a couple new pictures from the film: