We all remember Charlize Theron's dramatic transformation from blonde bombshell to made-under serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003's Monster. And in 2007 Jared Leto put on a staggering 30 kilograms in order to play John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, in Chapter 27.
Now, Margot Robbie has joined the same 'barely recognisable in a movie' club for the role of Queen Elizabeth I in the new film Mary Queen Of Scots. The 27-year-old actress, best known for her roles as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street, was spotted while filming in London this week, but you'd really have to be paying attention to realise it was her.
Credit: Splash News
In place of her usual long, blonde hair and immaculate complexion was a blotchy, pockmarked face paired with a head of thinning, fizzy red hair. It also appears there's a prosthetic nose involved, too.
The former Neighbours star was also dressed in a traditional Tudor outfit to complete her unlikely conversion into the monarch also known, rather unkindly, as The Virgin Queen.
It's a part that has been played by a number of other high-profile actresses over the years, including Bette Davis in 1939's The Private Lives of Elizabeth And Essex, and Dame Judi Dench in 1998's Shakespeare In Love. Helen Mirren, Miranda Richardson and Cate Blanchett have also taken on the role in the past.
Scheduled to be released in late 2018, Mary Queen Of Scots is directed by Josie Rourke and also stars Saoirse Ronan, Brendan Coyle, David Tennant and another former Neighbours star, Guy Pearce. It's based on the 2004 biography of Elizabeth I, My Heart Is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, by John Guy.
Credit: Splash News
The film traces the attempts made by Mary - played by Brooklyn star Ronan - to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. Of course, she didn't succeed, instead being condemned to years of imprisonment before being executed in 1587.
Whether Robbie will win an Oscar for her epic transformation remains to be seen, but given how much the Academy seems to love a switch from beautiful to 'ugly', she might well be in with a chance. For having to undergo all that hair and make-up torture, I think that she probably deserves one, too.
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I just wonder what husband Tom Ackerley thought the first time he saw her like that.
Words by Mischa Pearlman
Topics: Margot Robbie