Actress Margot Robbie on her Daunting Role as Elizabeth I

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, here you are playing Elizabeth I in a film that’s entitled “Mary Queen of Scots.” Did you feel like you were taking the second fiddle?

ROBBIE: Yes. It’s definitely a supporting role. It really is Mary’s story. But, you know, so much of what happens when she lands back in Scotland after being in France for the last 12 years affects Elizabeth’s reign as Mary Stuart a rightful claim to the throne. So, Elizabeth and her have a very interesting relationship and it is crucial to her, you know, ultimate demise, spoiler alert. So, yes, definitely a supporting role but that made it a little easier to take on, to be honest, because —

AMANPOUR: Well, I was going to say because it is a role that’s being played by some of the great —

MARGOT ROBBIE: The world’s greatest actresses, yes. Including my absolute acting idol, Cate Blanchett, you know, who played Elizabeth in both Elizabeth films most recently and nailed it, you know. Actually, I haven’t watched them and I stayed away from watching them and any other portrayal.

AMANPOUR: Judi Dench.

ROBBIE: So, that I wouldn’t freak myself out. Yes, yes.

AMANPOUR: What — I mean, it is of a role that so many actresses have wanted to play. So, did you automatically say yes when they when they approach you?

ROBBIE: No. In fact, I automatically said no. I was terrified at the prospect but the script was brilliant. Beau Willimon crafted it in a very, you know, pacey, political way. You know, he wrote “House of Cards” and, you know, he’s brilliant. And Josie, director, this was her first feature film but she’s a very accomplished director in the theatre world and (INAUDIBLE). And I loved talking to her and I knew Saoirse was on board and I knew Saoirse ready, you know, through, you know, personal avenues and always adored her work and wanted to work with her. So, there’s everything that would make me fill like, yes, I really want to do this project but the role itself terrified me and initially I said no.

AMANPOUR: OK. Saoirse, who I find it really difficult to get her name pronounced right.

ROBBIE: Saoirse.

AMANPOUR: Saoirse Ronan.

ROBBIE: Yes.

AMANPOUR: She plays Mary Queen of Scots.

ROBBIE: She does.

AMANPOUR: And it is extraordinary. And I found watching it that it is a slightly different narrative than the one we all grew up in school reading about. In this one, Mary is portrayed as much more sympathetic and it is based on a historical book by John Guy. He says he went back to the actual archives and came out with the real facts rather than these sorts of old wives’ tales, if you like, that have been passed down throughout the years.

ROBBIE: Yes, exactly. And William says, so he was Elizabeth’s right-hand man played by Guy Pearce in this film, worked — kind of dedicate his life to this endless smear campaign and rework history to view Mary as this young girl who was in way over her head and just wanted to, you know, marry this guy and that guy. And actually, she was incredibly, you know, politically astute