Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West are speaking out about filming season five of “The Crown” and what it was like to recreate some of the royal family’s most iconic moments from the 1990s.
Debicki and West took over the roles of Princess Diana and Prince Charles from Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor respectively, who played the prince and princess in season four.
Season five picks up the story in 1992, the year the two announced their separation, and showcased the royals as they tried to carry on with their lives. Much of their lives post-separation was highlighted in the media through interviews or paparazzi pictures, something Debicki was grateful for.
“(I was) so fortunate to have this huge time span of years in which to play the character. It’s my hope that people feel that there’s an enormous evolution in her as the season progresses,” Debicki explained to Entertainment Weekly. “For me, it’s a journey into a human finding a part of themselves that is profoundly strong — there’s a piece that has survived so much and can flourish.”
Elizabeth Debicki took over the role of Princess Diana from Emma Corrin, who played the princess in season four of the show.
(Photo by Cindy Ord/MG22/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
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One of the moments West found interesting to recreate was the iconic private, flirtatious 1989 phone call between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles. A transcript was leaked in 1993 and became the gossip everyone in England was constantly talking about.
During the phone call, Charles can be heard telling Camilla he wished he could live inside her pants, to which she responds by joking about whether he would like to be reincarnated as a pair of panties. Charles responded by saying that with his luck, he would be reincarnated as a tampon instead.
West said he remembered the scandal being “sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing,” and now having acted out the situation he has a different take on it all, calling the actions of the press “invasive and disgusting.”
“Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you’re conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation,” West said. “What’s really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press’s attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim, and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape. I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they’d gone through.”
West was also impressed with the fact that Netflix was using every resource available to them and was not sparing any expenses recreating Aristotle Onassis’ yacht, Burly Castle, Windsor Castle and Balmoral. He was particularly interested in filming the ceremony in which Britain signed Hong Kong back over to China in 1997 because he got to wear Charles’ navy uniform and was saluting in front of “stands-full of Chinese dignitaries, and the Black Watch.”
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While West found wearing Charles’ navy uniform cool, it arguably was not as cool as Debicki recreating the iconic moment Princess Diana arrived at an event wearing a black mini dress, now commonly referred to as the “revenge dress.” Debicki was shocked by how obsessed people were with the dress, saying fans were asking her if she would wear it on the show.
Elizabeth Debicki was shocked by the number of people who asked her about Princess Diana’s famous revenge dress, saying the day she wore it was a “big day on set” for her.
(Photo by Anwar Hussein/WireImage)
“When it became known that I had the part, I received these text messages saying congratulations, [but] there was also a huge amount of text messages about the revenge dress,” she explained. “(It was) very significant and quite powerful, but also it provoked something in me as an actor. I can’t really explain it. It’s pretty incredible that a dress would represent a moment in history, or that this human’s life would represent so much and become so iconic. So that was a big day on set for me!”
Both Debicki and West were fans of the show prior to being cast, with Debicki revealing she initially auditioned for a small cameo role for season two.
“I definitely wanted to do something on ‘The Crown’ because my dear friend Vanessa Kirby was playing Princess Margaret and I was just obsessed with the show,” she says. “I was one of those people who binged it.”
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After the audition, Debicki was told there is a possibility they could call her a few years down the road about potentially playing Diana. Debicki did not get her hopes up but was thrilled to hear back from show creator Peter Morgan, calling to offer her the role of Diana, admitting she “didn’t have to give it much thought.”
West on the other hand was a little more nervous about taking on the role, admitting his initial response was that the casting director “got the wrong guy,” because “(he doesn’t) look anything like him.” He was also “very conscious of Josh’s amazing performance” and the success he found with it, noting he didn’t want to follow it.
Dominic West initially did not want to take the role of Charles, saying he believed he does not look like Charles, and that he did not want to follow Josh O’Connor’s performance.
(Netflix)
“(I) realized that you’ve got to give it a go because you’ll regret it if you don’t. He’s a fascinating man, Charles, and it’s a fascinating life, and a fascinating role,” West said. “I mean, apart from anything else, it’s a huge show, and I loved the first four seasons. I realized that I could very happily live with this character for two years.”
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Season five of “The Crown” is set to premiere on Netflix on Nov. 9.
