Margot Robbie and Guy Pearce have begun filming the period drama, Mary Queen of Scots, in the UK.
Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) will follow in the footsteps of Cate Blanchett by playing the monarch Elizabeth I, opposite Saoirse Ronan, who plays Mary Stuart.
Blanchett played the titular role of Elizabeth in two films for Shekhar Kapur, earning Academy Award nominations for both.
Josie Rourke, artistic director of London theatre, The Donmar Warehouse, will make her film directorial debut with the feature shooting in England and Scotland for Working Title Films.
House of Cards writer Beau Willimon adapted the screenplay from John Guy’s biography My Heart Is My Own: The Life Of Mary Queen Of Scots, according to Screen Daily.
Mary Stuart was Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, before she moved to Scotland in order to reclaim the throne despite the strong Elizabeth I ruling. Their rivalry split the sovereignty.
Dunkirk’s Jack Lowden co-stars with Joe Alwyn, Martin Compsto, Brendan Coyle, David Tennant and Guy Pearce.
Frances O’Connor heads cast of ‘Locke & Key’
Frances O’Connor has been cast as the lead in the new horror/fantasy drama for US streaming service Hulu, Locke & Key.
The star of Thank God He Met Lizzie and The Conjuring 2 will play the mother of three siblings who move back to their ancestral home in Maine and find magical keys that give them new powers.
The series is adapted from the IDW comic by Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez and will be produced by Hill, Lost writer and producer Carlton Cuse, who will also be showrunner, and IDW Entertainment.
The series will be directed by Andy Muschietti, whose horror film IT is anticipated to dominate the North American box office this weekend.
Coincidentally, another Australian actor, Miranda Otto, played the same role in a previous pilot episode of Locke & Key adapted for the 2010-11 development season by Fox.