Margot Robbie went through an incredible journey to transform into Elizabeth I for Mary Queen of Scots
Yes, that is definitely Margot Robbie playing Elizabeth I in upcoming period drama Mary Queen of Scots.
However, the Oscar-nominated actress is almost unrecognisable thanks to some seriously heavy make-up and questionable hair circa 16th century.
Margot, 28, went through a complete transformation to portray the English queen in the anticipated epic, directed by Josie Rourke. When the first trailer dropped earlier this summer, fans were taken aback by the drastic change in Margots appearance – her face painted with thick, white make-up and her real life blond hair now thinning and red.
All the effort is to depict the changing appearance of Elizabeth I through the different stages of her life and director Rosie admits it was certainly an experience for Margot.
The filmmaker told Metro.co.uk: Margot has an incredible journey through the film and numerous looks in hair and makeup by the amazing Jenny Shircore, who is one of the most wonder woman I have ever worked with.
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One of the things we were really excited to do was to show a very detailed journey through different stages of Elizabeths life. So shes a relatively young queen when she begins. What we also show is how she was attacked by smallpox as we know that Elizabeth was.
One of the most compassionate things about the film is what Jenny did with Margot and it obviously took Margot obviously a very long time in the make-up truck.
Although centuries apart, Josie sees a parallel between the beauty trends of women in Elizabeth and Mary Stuarts time to the Instagram-friendly look of today.
Its pretty much come full circle, as the director added: What we see is how a young woman beings to cover up the scarring and how it takes her on the journey into those portraits of Elizabeth with the white faced make-up, which feels both quite historic but also when you go on Instagram feels a bit like contour.
Its actually amazing to watch women now do that kind of full-faced paint that Elizabeth did in the later stages of her life. The time spent was very worth it in the sense that you get to see the many faces of Elizabeth.
Margots performance is yet to be seen by the public but film festival critics are already tipping both her and co-star Saoirse Ronan, who plays Mary Queen of Scots, for the Oscars 2019.
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Praising Margots portrayal of the Elizabeth I, Rosie said: I think the one thing Margot does with her performance which is so wonderful is that there tends to be an obsession with the strength of Elizabeth.
What Margot and I were trying to do is to show you how that happened, what choices she made with politically, with her body, the sacrifices, the cost of that and also her humanity, vulnerability and what she did in order to survive.
Josie is unable to confirm reports that Mary Queen of Scots had a staggering budget of £180 million.
But she can reveal that, apart from three dresses worn by Elizabeth at the end of the movie, every single costume is made of denim.
Yep, denim.
The director explained: Because denim as a fabric is relatively inexpensive, what that also allowed [costume designer] Alexandra Byrne to do is to make everything in the film. Every single costume is to her design, she had massive control over the look and feel of the film. They absolutely reference the film and the renaissance but its also, a bit like the film itself, a take on that period in history more than a reprint of it.
As for Margot and her surprising transformation, Josie fondly recalled: One of the mad things for me is, although we did rehearse the film, actually I mainly spent my time with Margot when she was in hair and make-up so to then see Margot out of hair and make-up was a weird thing for me. I became more used to her as Elizabeth than I did as Margot.
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She jokingly added: But I think I stand a reasonable chance of recognising her when I next see her.
Mary Queen of Scots is out on 18 January 2019.
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