Paramount Vantage is closing in on domestic rights to Phillip Noyce’s Mary Queen of Scots, starring Scarlett Johansson. Terms are still being finalized.

The actress will play the 16th century monarch who had an antagonistic relationship with Queen Elizabeth I of England and was eventually beheaded.

Capitol Films and Relativity Media are financing, with Jimmy McGovern is penning the screenplay. The star’s mother and manager Melanie Johansson will produce the film with Alexandra Milchan.

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Ireland is on the brink of a victory that would have made Mary Queen of Scots proud — by beating Britain in a battle for a new Hollywood blockbuster.

The €20m Mary Queen of Scots film, starring Scarlett Johansson (22) in the lead role, could be the first major movie success to be shot here since King Arthur five years ago.

The ailing Irish film industry got a serious boost recently when Showtime’s high rating prime-time drama The Tudors, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, was located here.

Ardmore Studios has already been overrun by 16th Century troops in pantaloons wielding crossbows and will not need too much help to adapt to a new influx.

It is understood that the co-producer of the The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Element Pictures, is in high level talks about the film locating in Ireland.

Picturesque Birr Castle in Offaly is rumoured to be one of the potential locations for the 16th Century drama.

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It looks like John Curran is no longer directoring Mary Queen of Scots. Instead, Phillip Noyce will take on the directing duties and the film is currently on course to start production in April in London and Scotland (yay!). Hopefully there will be no more delays. Here’s a reportage from Variety:

Phillip Noyce is set to direct and Scarlett Johansson to star in Mary Queen of Scots, putting the costumer on course to start production in April.

Drama is a biography of the woman who became Scotland’s queen at 9 months in 1542 and, later, a rival to the English throne. Mary, a Roman Catholic, was imprisoned for many years on charges of plotting to murder Elizabeth I, a Protestant. Elizabeth eventually had her beheaded in 1587.

James McGovern (Crackers) wrote the script, and Melanie Johansson and Alexandra Milchan will produce. The film will be financed by Capitol Films and Relativity.

It will shoot in London and Scotland.

Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson could be making her way to Linlithgow… if a bid by West Lothian Council succeeds. It was announced at the Cannes Film Festival this week that the top actress has been signed to play Mary, Queen of Scots — the tragic monarch who was born at Linlithgow Palace.

The new movie is set to become one of the most significant historical films about Scotland since Braveheart.

And, keen to get a slice of the big-budget Hollywood epic, the council is planning to invite the production company to film at the birthplace of Mary Stuart.

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Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media will fund and produce a movie about Mary Queen of Scots with Scarlett Johansson attached.

The financier and producer also said Thursday that Relativity has acquired the rights to the Tom Clancy fictional character John Kelly and will produce a movie version of the writer’s bestseller Without Remorse. Screenplay is being written by Stuart Beattie.

In its four years as a film investor, Relativity said it has pumped roughly $4.5 billion into Hollywood studio slates or into specific films being made by independents. Kavanaugh described the individual production partners with whom the company is working as “our portfolio managers,” stressing that he primarily wants to be in business with those producers who are adept at making profitable as well as entertaining movies.

The Mary Queen of Scots project will be produced by Kavanaugh as well as New Regency’s Alexandra Milchan and Melanie Johanasson. Project will be penned by Jimmy McGovern and directed by John Curran. Capitol Films is handling worldwide rights here in Cannes.

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Scarlett Johansson will portray Mary Queen of Scots in a new movie. The film will depict the antagonistic relationship between Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I of England, who tried to undermine her rule. 2929 Entertainment is producing the project from a screenplay by Jimmy McGovern. The budget is expected to be in the $25 million-$30 million range. Scarlett’s mother Melanie Johansson will produce the film along with Alexandra Milchan and Donna Gigliotti.

The producers are looking for a director but plan to begin shooting the film by the end of summer 2007.