DRAMA QUEEN
Olivia’s reign begins!
Olivia Colman is unstoppable. Fresh from her Oscar triumph as Queen Anne in The Favourite,
she’s launched straight into one of the most popular British TV series ever – The Crown.
Following in the footsteps of Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II during her early years on the throne, Olivia takes on the maturing royal role with understandable trepidation.
“This is perhaps the biggest challenge of my career,” Olivia explains, “because everyone in the world knows the Queen and has an opinion about her. And also because Claire Foy, who played the role in the first two seasons, was just sensational. Everybody was completely excited about her as a queen, especially my husband. It’s damn hard to keep up with that, believe me!”
Fiendishly witty and ebullient, Olivia is enjoying a remarkable career trajectory. Like Her Majesty, the actress is becoming something of a British national treasure. First, we saw her play a dour detective ( Broadchurch),
then an intimidating spymaster ( The Night Manager), and now two queens in succession.
It’s also a stunning transition to serious drama that few might have expected given her previous niche as a comedic actor.
And now her work in season three of The Crown will no doubt earn the 45-year-old actress and mother of three an even greater public following. The immensely popular Netflix series has already captured the imagination of viewers worldwide, and Olivia now gets to play the Queen during some very critical and controversial years on the throne – the period from 1964 to 1977.
An almost entirely new cast will be joining Olivia – Tobias Menzies replaces Matt Smith as Prince Philip, Helena Bonham Carter takes over Vanessa Kirby’s role as Princess Margaret, Ben Daniels plays Tony ArmstrongJones (previously played by Matthew Goode), while Josh O’Connor enters the series as Prince Charles.
Olivia lives in London with her husband of 18 years, Ed Sinclair, whom she met while studying at Cambridge, their sons Finn (14) and Hal (12), and a four-year-old daughter, whose name they have not disclosed. She spoke to us about her slow road to success, the juggle of parenthood and career, and how she nailed the Queen’s accent.
Does portraying the Queen in The Crown create a double challenge in that you’re playing the reigning monarch as well as replacing Claire
Foy, who was acclaimed in the role?
“Thanks a lot! I know it’s an incredibly hard act to follow, and I thought Claire Foy’s work was genius, she was just breathtaking. But it’s also the kind of incredible role that you don’t even dare of getting the chance to play. I was shocked when my agent called me –
I just shrieked: ‘The Queen?’ I didn’t even know that they were going to recast for seasons three and four!”
Did you speak to Claire Foy about taking over the role?
“I called her as soon as I found out [that I had the part]. Claire told me that she’d had a lovely time working on the series and that the entire cast and crew had been wonderful.
“In fact, almost all the [crew] who worked on season one and season two have come back to work on the new season, and everyone seems so happy and we have such an outstanding cast.
“The script is great, [series creator] Peter
Morgan is always excelling, there’s an
exceptional cast, and I’m so happy to work with everybody.”
What technical preparation did you undertake to play the Queen?
“I worked on the accent with a dialect coach. Her accent is very specific and no-one else in England really speaks like her. I also watched her movements very carefully. The Queen has impeccable posture and I wanted to get that right, especially after Claire had done such an extraordinary job of capturing her manner. I didn’t want to be the one who gets it all wrong.”
What was the first week of shooting like?
“I sometimes found myself doing Claire impressions and thinking, ‘How would Claire have played that?’ It’s always going to be a challenge where you’re playing a character other actors have played before. But you learn to find your own way into the role.”
Your career is skyrocketing. You’ve been well known in the UK, but lately you’ve gained massive international recognition for your work in The Night Manager, The Favourite and now The Crown. How does that feel? “It seems like it’s all been happening very quickly but it’s been
a long and slow road. I feel very lucky though. Except for my first few years starting out, I have always been able to find work and do something that gives me so much joy.
I’m also grateful for what I achieved because it teaches you to push more and more. I suppose the commitment pays off. There are more roles now for women in their forties, and the parts become more interesting because you can draw on your experience and reflect that in the characters you’re playing. It’s exciting.” Was acting always your ambition?
“I was always dreaming about it. I never really wanted to do anything else, though, and even when I started going to auditions and no-one would give me a job, I never thought of giving up. It also helped, I suppose, that I wasn’t good at anything else!”
As the mother of three children, how do you handle the added pressure?
“I had a good example in my mother. She’s a nurse and she loves her job, and my children are used to the idea of seeing their family working and loving what they do. I also have a good husband who makes it easier for me to be away. He also makes me feel better because he makes me happy. We make a good team and we take advantage of the time we have to be together.”
Do you ever take home a character you’re portraying?
“I can’t afford to do that! I give everything I have to my character and my work, but I have three children to take to school every morning, two dogs, and a husband who wouldn’t have much patience for a Strasberg-method actress. If I went around the house acting like the Queen, I wouldn’t last five minutes!”
What is it about acting and taking on a character that gives you the most pleasure?
“It’s the emotions that you get to indulge in when you’re playing someone. You don’t necessarily have to empathise or like your character, but you do need to enjoy being that person for the time you’re doing it.
“Sometimes that may be more difficult, but it’s part of your job and your task is to be able to think and feel the way even a truly horribly person is behaving.”
You’re one of many women in the film industry who have spoken out about pay inequality and the need for more women’s stories to be told. Have you always felt strongly about this?
“My parents are feminists and they educated me on the importance of knowing that we are all equally capable of doing anything. In my private life I’ve inculcated that principle to my children, and I will continue to do so throughout their education.
“In my professional life, it makes me furious to find out that women haven’t been paid equally for the same work.
That has to stop, and whenever I see that happening, I’m not going to rest until that’s been corrected.
“It’s important to keep talking about such issues. That will only stop once we have achieved real equality, quite rightly, because I think we need 50/50 equality in all areas of society, not just on a film set.”