If you've seen the trailers, you'll know that Mary Queen of Scots is all about the two Queens, Mary (Saoirse Ronan) and Elizabeth (Margot Robbie), being pitted against each other. One of the most striking scenes is the one where the two cousins come face to face and have a tense showdown.
That moment... did not happen in history. The two women never actually met in real life.
Related: Why Margot Robbie almost turned down Mary Queen of Scots
That kind of undermines the whole 'an incredible true story' thing that films love to do (Bohemian Rhapsody was criticised for twisting history to make its narrative), but Saoirse Ronan has argued for its inclusion.
Appearing on today's (January 17) This Morning, the actress said: "If an audience has stuck with a film for an hour-and-a-half, two hours, and they've followed these two stories and followed these two women and their lives... you need that payoff, you need to see (it).
"You're egging them on, you're rooting them on to come together. From a dramatic point of view, it made sense to have to two of them in the room."
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Related: What Mary Queen of Scots removes from the real life history
Ronan also explained that the two lead actresses asked the production to keep them apart from each other before the scene, so Mary's reaction to Elizabeth's "non-human" make-up was more real.
Mary Queen of Scots is released in cinemas tomorrow in the UK, and is now playing in the US.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
