by Nathaniel R
Saoirse Ronan as Mary Stuart in "Mary Queen of Scots"
Remember when Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett were locked in battle for Best Actress 1998 with Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth? Before that famous Oscar battle was even over Gwynnie & Cate were co-stars on the set of their follow-up The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) one of those rare Oscar intendees that actually won far more fans AFTER its underperformance at the Oscars. (Usually when intended Oscar giants underperform in awards season it's because people they aren't very good and/or people just don't like them.)
19 years later we have a vaguely similar situation happening...
Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan are the expected frontrunners for Best Actress 2017 (for I, Tonya and Lady Bird respectively). But they've already filmed their next picture and they're co-starring this time; Mary Queen of Scots is due in theaters in November next year. Focus Features is behind the film and we'll be curious to see how it plays with Oscar since traditional costume dramas/biographies aren't quite the automatic Oscar players they used to be. That said "royalty porn" as we like to call it never quite goes out of style with awards voters of all kinds. See The Crown on Netflix or the arthouse popularity of Judi Dench in Victoria & Abdul (which Lady Bird will soon catch up to at the box office but still... it definitely overperformed given the lack of media attention)
The story of Mary Stuart (a threat to her first cousin once removed Queen Elizabeth's claim to the throne) has been filmed multiple times. Here's how other English language versions fared with Oscar...
• Mary of Scotland (1936) Katherine Hepburn as Mary, Florence Eldridge as Elizabeth
(No Oscar nominations)
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) Samantha Morton as Mary, Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth
(2 Oscar nominations: Actress and Costume Design, the latter won)
• Mary Queen of Scots (1971) Vanessa Redgrave as Mary, Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth
(5 Oscar nominations: Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design, Sound, Original Score)
There's also a famous old play Mary Stuart by Friedrick Schiller which was most recently revived in 2009 starring Janet McTeer which landed several Tony nominations. Strangely that play has never been adapted to the big screen though it has been done as a TV movie.
Do you think Margot & Saoirse will compete again next year or will this sink like The Other Boleyn Girl? Not every royal actressy drama excites audiences.