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I was really emotional doing it, Ronan told Vulture about the scene.
During production onMary Queen of Scots, she and Robbie intentionally kept their distance.
For the first half of the scene, we didnt see each other.
It was really emotional.
We were, like, shaking.
The adrenaline of that, I think, really got to us in that first take.
But shes just as determined and forthright as so many of Ronans other characters.
A character in this movie describes Mary as formidable.
I wanted to hear how you would describe her.Yeah, she is.
I think shes got a lot of strong will.
She came from a family of very, very fiery, passionate Scottish and French people.
That tenacity is in her blood.
But I do think, as well, she makes mistakes.
She has doubts and does second-guess herself sometimes.
It was important to humanize her, and not have her just be this very fair, strong figurehead.
Because thats just not real.
It was really important to show those moments of doubt as well.
How much did you consider the modern parallels of this story?
Thats exactly what happens in Marys case.
Thats the kind of barbarity that were experiencing right now, especially in the U.S. Was it on the awards circuit?It was a few years ago, actually.
They areprosat throwing dinner parties they always get lovely, interesting people to come to their house for dinner.
But Margot was also there.
She just confirmed that when we got to hang out with each other.
But it was important to stay away from that.
But in this case, it only added to the scene that we did finally have together.
It gave the film so much anticipation and excitement.
It ended up just being this really emotional thing to shoot because we had literally spent a month apart.
Do you think that Mary resents Elizabeth?
In this case, it became quite complicated.
Elizabeth was the longest-reigning monarch, but there was an awful lot that she missed out on.
Theres a great proposal scene in this, between you and Jack Lowden.
Is it very hard to flirt while on horseback?No, it wasnt at all.
It was such a romantic setting.
We were on the crest of the hill, and both Jack and I loved riding horses anyway.
He had done it before; I hadnt.
But we both really enjoyed that and really loved doing it while we were making the film.
I think we were just so excited that we got to actually do it in the scene.
It gets you out of your head a little bit and makes everything a bit more immediate.
Mary was surrounded by men who tried to either outsmart her or undermine her.
Its just a really tragic thing.
There are so many of them that were close to her that betrayed here.
And to have that taken for granted was pretty tragic.
Did you notice that?I might have, yeah.
The last scene of Mary is her walking to be executed.
That sort of brings all of those emotions out in you.
It gives you license to feel ferocious or frustrated or emotional.
And its just sort of about allowing yourself to open up to the scene that youre in.
I love doing that stuff, and I loved that I got to do it with Mary.
Its empowering, getting to play someone who does have this mixed bag of emotions.
You started acting when you were really young.
The reason why I love it is still the same.
When I started out, I was a kid and certainly drawing from life experience or anything like that.
Whereas, now, that just sort of naturally happens more and more.
It does become a much more personal thing when youre creating a role.
But just the more you do it, the more risk-taking you do.
Can you tell me what it was like to reunite with Timmy and Greta?Its been great.
We just feel like were really in a safe space.
So, yeah, its been amazing.
