Three actresses have played Elizabeth II in the famous ‘The Crown’, which will premiere its fifth season this year
At first it was difficult for us to see Queen Elizabeth II in the fragile presence of actress Claire Foy, who was in charge of interpreting her during the first two seasons of ‘The Crown’, the Netflix series. The interpreter managed to give a completely different image to the one we had of this public figure, surely conditioned by her media exposure in the last years of the 20th century. That naive, insecure Elizabeth II, who doubts how to exercise her role as ruler and who fights, in love with her, to maintain her marriage, was more unknown to us, but no less attractive for that. On the contrary.
Precisely that surprise factor has surely been one of the reasons why ‘The Crown’ has become one of the most celebrated fictions of recent times, both by the public and by the award winners, surrendered to it. Their powerful performances and staging have certainly contributed as well. Despite the fact that the queen is the main figure, the Netflix production is presented as a more ambitious project that aims to describe what it means to live around the crown, to what extent it conditions belonging to the British royal family. For this reason, the series focuses on figures that are less approached audiovisually, such as Princess Margaret or the Duke of Edinburgh.
In the chapters in which Claire Foy became Elizabeth II we see how she was crowned queen of England, how that appointment changed her life, the disagreements with her sister, the relationship she established with Churchill and her reaction to events such as the Suez Canal crisis. But, above all, we are witnesses of the professional evolution that she lived, the sacrifices that she had to make and the ways in which she learned to rule in spite of everyone.
Olivia Colman in ‘The Crown’. /
The series made the difficult decision to change the actors who embody the main characters as they get older, so in the fourth season the viewers had to get used to the face of Olivia Colman. The choice was brave, since the actress was not unknown and she had already participated in popular titles such as ‘Broadchurch’ or ‘Fleabag’, but the choice worked. With this change of face we get used to a less expressive queen, further from reality, more concerned about herself than about what is happening around her.
In seasons three and four ‘The Crown’ reflected the arrival in England of Margaret Thatcher or the controversies that made Lady Di a world icon. Olivia Colman had to show a more mature queen, battle-hardened and possibly less excited about what was happening around her. These deliveries were more criticized, possibly due to the importance given in the plots to the stormy relationship between Carlos and Diana, but also due to the cold behavior of the protagonist.
Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in seasons five and six. /
The challenge is now Imelda Staunton, who will be Queen in the next two seasons, still to be released. The protagonist of films such as ‘Vera Drake’ or ‘Maleficent’ will play Elizabeth II during the crisis that caused the death of Lady Di and during the subsequent years.
Until that moment, Helen Mirren still appeared as a reference in our heads, who won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her performance in ‘The Queen’, the film in which Stephen Frears portrayed Elizabeth II who faced to the political events after the death of Princess Diana and to the pressure exerted on her by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Precisely Peter Morgan, creator of ‘The Crown’, was a screenwriter for this film.
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