As Rourke previously mentioned, showcasing the Queen's scars was crucial to her on-screen persona — and Shircore took that one step further. "I had [Robbie] wear fake scars I made using prosthetics all the time on set," Shircore recalls. "Whether she would be wearing heavy makeup or not in a scene, it was important for her scars to always be there."Robbie has hinted throughout the film's press tour how " isolating " that experience was. "It was very alienating," she told Harper's Bazaar of her experience shooting the movie. "I felt very lonely. It was an interesting social experiment."As the movie progresses, the Queen's white, pasty makeup grows heavier and heavier (a signature trait most people will recognize from Elizabeth's portraits) — as does her power. The two are directly proportionate. "[Elizabeth] never goes back," Shircore says. "She just continues to apply the makeup and wear the wigs for years. This look symbolized Elizabeth's power."It's no wonder that with the scar prosthetics, white makeup, wigs, and addition of red lipstick and blush, it took Shircore nearly three hours each day to prep Robbie for the camera. Although Rourke and Shircore chose to include some of the most vulnerable physical qualities of Elizabeth, they did leave out one distinct feature: her rotting teeth."Yes, eventually Queen Elizabeth also suffered through her rotting teeth," Shircore says. "But this didn't happen until a bit later on in her life. The film ends at the execution of Mary. If we had gone further on into her life we would have made her look older, and also would have shown signs of gum disease."