CLAIRE FOY: FROM ROYAL SAGA TO SCANDI NOIR
As the actor swaps the Queen’s stiff upper lip for the vengeful violence of Lisbeth Salander, Paul Flynn reports on how she is dealing with fame
IT IS ONE OF THE most startling career U-turns in the acting canon. Claire Foy has handed over the role of the Queen in The Crown to Olivia Colman, and is clearly throwing herself into act two. Out is stately precision and buttoned-up repression; in is a royal badass – the tattooed, pierced, crop-haired, leather-clad Lisbeth Salander in a new adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web, released this week.
Stringing up villains by their heels, diving headlong into street warfare, Lisbeth is the fittingly aggressive superhero that #Metoo demanded. But as exciting as she is, it’s the woman who plays her that has us all talking. In the two years since Claire arrived as a relative unknown to star in what became one of TV’S most successful series, she has become a major fascination.
Last week, as pictures surfaced of her ex-husband, The History Boys actor Stephen Campbell Moore, moving on with Sophie Cookson, his co-star in upcoming spy thriller Red Joan, Claire appeared on the cover of US Vogue, revealing that she once
had so little self-confidence that she believed, ‘I looked shit, I was shit at everything and my life was going to be a disaster.’
That couldn’t be further from truth now. As she steps from the small to big screen, Claire is within touching distance of an Oscar to add to her haul (she already has a Golden Globe and Emmy for The Crown). Her other recent film, First Man, is tipped for success at next year’s ceremony. She stars opposite Ryan Gosling as Janet, wife of Neil Armstrong, in Damien ‘ La La Land’ Chazelle’s drama about the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to land a man on the moon.
Yet, says a colleague close to her, ‘Claire is very pragmatic when it comes to fame. But it’s been overwhelming how quickly things seem to have changed for her.’ In response, the actor, 34, has maintained something of her famous role’s steel-plated armour for PR. Indeed, the closest she’s come to voicing an opinion on the Queen during promotion of The Crown was when she told Chelsea Handler, ‘She really is a tough broad.’
The same could be said of Claire. She auditioned for The Crown just after giving birth to her daughter Ivy, immediately taking responsibility for the $100m budget Netflix had spent on the flagship drama designed to make Downton Abbey look like Hollyoaks. Just after season two aired, earlier this year, she issued a dignified statement about splitting from husband Stephen, who she’d been with for seven years. While she’d been filming, Stephen had undergone brain surgery to remove a tumour. Last week, she admitted, ‘I’m 34 and I genuinely can’t even think about anything apart from taking care of myself and… my daughter.’
‘Claire and Stephen’s split was tough on her,’ says the insider. ‘ The blows that the year dealt them, with Stephen’s health struggles and Claire’s schedule, proved too much. She doesn’t have a huge circle of people she trusts, so learning to live without Stephen was lonely and isolating, particularly when she was filming away from home and her family.’ Through it all, however, they are said to have remained amicable, with Claire revealing earlier this year that they are still ‘ best friends’.
Claire became central to the gender pay gap scandal when it was revealed that her co-star Matt Smith was paid more than her in The Crown. Any suggestion that the leak came from her camp is swiftly deflected by the strong friendship she developed with Matt on-set, where she was otherwise known to keep herself to herself. ‘Matt was a huge support to her as it all unfolded,’ added the source. ‘ They speak all the time and, as they’ve gone through the journey of The Crown together, they have this really close bond.’ The pair are known to spend Sunday lunches together with Matt’s partner Lily James and Claire even revealed last week that she has planted a fig tree in her garden in honour of him.
Claire’s acting prowess is a given. But she is very discreet, stressing in interviews that she’s all too aware of the ephemeral nature of fame. This summer, she also talked eloquently about suffering with anxiety in an interview with The Guardian. Claire’s parents divorced when she was eight and she and her two siblings were raised by their mother in Buckinghamshire. While the actor says she doesn’t remember much about the divorce, she admits she developed anxiety ‘as a tool to survive. If I knew a day was going to be ruined by anxiety, that was good in a way, because it meant I knew what was going to happen.’
An awkward child who suffered from arthritis, she became the family problemsolver when her older sister started acting up after they moved into a much smaller house following the divorce. She told US Vogue, ‘I used to draw plans of what we could do with the rooms for my mum, to try to make her a bit excited about it.’
Claire insists that fame hasn’t changed her and she can still operate a reasonably normal life. ‘She goes to her local pub with friends when she can,’ says the insider, ‘and tries to keep things as normal as possible for Ivy. She likes that she rarely gets papped. She doesn’t like Hollywood and would never dream of moving there.’
And yet, as awards season approaches and with two blockbusters to her name, Claire may want to make the most of any anonymity while she can. It feels as if superstardom is within her grasp. A new Kate Winslet moment; a new screen icon with girl-next-door appeal matched by ambition, flair and screen presence feels very much upon us.
LEARNING TO LIVE WITHOUT STEPHEN WAS LONELY AND ISOLATING From top: Claire’s ex Stephen with Sophie Cookson; Claire as Lisbeth Salander; with Matt Smith