Margot Robbie: It was important that Mary Queen Of Scots was told by women

Margot Robbie has said it was “definitely important” that Mary Queen Of Scots – a tale of two queens at war – was told from a female perspective.

The Oscar-nominated Australian actress, who stars as Queen Elizabeth I opposite Saoirse Ronan’s Mary Stuart, said the film needed a female director.

Speaking on the red carpet at the film’s European premiere, she said: “I’ve had extraordinary experiences on film sets with both men and women, but for this story in particular, where it is so thematically relevant to see it from a woman’s point of view, it was definitely important to me that Josie (Rourke) was the film-maker for it.

“I’ve wanted to work with Saoirse forever and I hope we get to again. She’s just incredible and to know that she is at the helm of this film fills me with confidence. She makes such good choices.”

Robbie, 28, who shot to fame in The Wolf Of Wall Street, said there were a lot of “misconceptions” about Mary Stuart’s place in history, adding that she had wanted to “explore” the Scottish queen’s “truth”.

She added: “I’d never really heard about Mary Stuart, to be honest. So the whole thing fascinated me. There was a lot of misconceptions surrounding their story and it was fun to explore the truth of that.

“I had to do a lot of research and a lot of work to feel comfortable, but with any character at some point you just have to put the work aside and go with your gut on set, and act from a more human place.

“In that way, I feel that audiences can empathise, in a way, because they recognise parts of themselves in the characters, so hopefully we found the vulnerability and people found a moment to feel empathy for it.”

Mary Queen Of Scots is due for release in the UK on January 19.