So, a combination of me doing bad acting and somehow good acting at the same time.
So, I thought, Oh, well, better luck next time.
They would say, You know what?
Netflix
Would you be interested?
Because I didnt know how many seasons they were intending to do.
Thats how it happened.
Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of WalesNetflix
Also, I was so physically wrong for that part.
I was really confused that they had even asked me to come in and read.
But my agent was absolutely right, as she always is.
Hylda Queally is always right, have it on record.
She said, Just go in and do it.
It was so lush and beautiful and expensive, and everyone was doing such good acting.
I was like, Holy hell, this is the best TV Ive ever seen.
When they said, Come in and do it, I said, Absolutely.
DEADLINE:Did you watch Emma Corrins Diana portrayal before you started work?
Its like a baton pass.
And what they did was so beautiful and nuanced and had this openness.
That helped me understand my task in a way as well, because I am older than Emma.
DEADLINE:In trying to recreate a real-life character, what was your research process like?
And Annie is a very straightforward New Yorker.
Annie said, How much do you want?
And I said, Just give me all of it.
I just sat there with my highlighter on the couch in the blazing hot Australian summer.
I just worked my way through it.
It was a joy really, because Im a research history nerd.
Obviously, theres also hours of video archive.
For the second honeymoon episode, theres all this very factual research.
Which is the tent pole that the then imaginative interpretation is hung on.
I let myself understand the framework quite deeply, so that it would inform the psychological journey.
But I didnt, I did my homework.
If you ask a normal somebody on the street, What does Princess Diana look like when she speaks?
Or what does Charles do with his body?
People can do a mirroring, its very deeply in our collective consciousness.
So, that was the most obvious place to start.
But then its also mapping the body through space.
Whats the psychology behind it?
This is why they get out of the car on this side.
Its just something that your body would do to protect you from that gaze.
Its a whole bunch of thatfiguring out and imagining why.
Then, of course, you have to start to practice it so that it feels natural.
Especially when you go back into the olden days ofThe Crownseries.
Was it difficult to find thereal Dianain your research?
DEBICKI: It is difficult.
My avenue to trying to get close to that was a combination of things.
Every book has a subjective viewpoint, or theyre trying to sell a narrative.
Those things are very interesting entry points into where that human may have been at that time.
DEBICKI: Its taught me a lot because it was very challenging.
Its definitely the most complicated acting task thats ever been put to me.
All the layers of it are quite extreme in a sense.
Heres an excellent show thats been running for five seasons and it has this amazing built-in audience.
And you think, Oh my God, how on earth do I manage this?
Theres a lot that you learn to just release, its quite freeing.
Because if youre trying to mentally keep all the pieces together, you just couldnt.
DEADLINE:Whats next for you?
Are you working on anything?
DEBICKI: I actually just wrapped on another thing that I was shooting.
I was playing a part inMaXXXine, in the Ti WestXtrilogy.
It was just so far from what Ive been doing onThe Crown, but just a joy as well.
Acting is acting and I love doing it.
I really feel so grateful when I get to go to work.
That is the honest truth.
Ive also got a few little things simmering.
I think I might just take a wee little rest because its been a long gig.
