Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan kept apart on movie set to create tension

Cape Town - Mary Queen of Scots director Josie Rourke has revealed that she kept Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan apart on the set of the movie before filming an intense 7-minute scene. 

In an interview with Metro.co.uk the director said they were deliberately kept apart in order to create tension for a climatic scene. 

The pair star in the historical drama based on John Guy's biography Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart.

Ronan is the eponymous character and Robbie her distant cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. The film chronicles the 1569 conflict between their two countries.

The film releases in SA cinemas on Friday, 18 January 2019.