Margot Robbie SEPARATED from co-star Saoirse Ronan on Mary Queen of Scots – here's why

Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I had a notoriously fraught rivalry in their battle for power – and on screen, the two characters don’t come face-to-face until the very end.

So director Josie Rourke decided to take the same approach with the actresses playing them.

“We kept them apart when they were doing that scene together,” she told Metro.

“They only meet once in the film so the film drives towards this climactic scene.

“When they look each other in the eye during that scene, they’re looking at each other as those characters for the first time and we managed to capture that on film in the most extraordinary way.”

She added: ”That’s the amazing thing for me as a theatre director because I see these moments in rehearsals but when I show it to the audience for the first time in a theatre, we’ve already been through it in rehearsals.

“To capture the magic of that and the coming together in that moment and to have it immortalised is an incredibly wonderful thing.”

Luckily the actresses were far from rivalries when they did eventually meet, with Rourke saying the pair bonded on the awards circuit when celebrating I, Tonya (Robbie) and Lady Bird (Ronan).

The movie is out in the UK early next year and also stars Jack Lowden, David Tennant, Martin Compston and Gemma Chan.

Robbie will also soon be getting to work in a very different role: as Harley Quinn for DC.

She had great success in the part in Suicide Squad, despite the movie’s lacklustre reception from critics and fans.

Birds Of Prey will see her teaming up with all-star team including Jurnee Smollett-Bell cast as Black Canary and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, plus newly-cast Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya.

“I pitched the idea of an R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, ‘Harley needs friends’,” Robbie told Collider.

“Harley loves interacting with people, so don’t ever make her do a standalone film. She’s got to be with other people, it should be a girl gang.

“I wasn’t seeing enough girl gangs on screen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it.”

Mary Queen of Scots is out on January 18.