Netflix drama as search for young Wills hits 11th hour
NETFLIX’S big-budget royal drama The Crown has been a money-spinner for the streaming giant, but are its increasingly controversial plotlines leading to casting problems?
For I hear it was still advertising for an actor to play a teenage Prince William as late as last Friday, even though his scenes are due to be shot this month.
The role will be a highly contentious one, because it will involve William’s reaction to the breakdown of his mother Princess Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles.
The series will also portray how the BBC’s disgraced reporter Martin Bashir convinced Diana to film her explosive Panorama interview. The Duke of Cambridge has begged for the interview not to be shown ever again.
‘A lot of parents would think twice before letting their son appear in such a drama,’ a source tells me. ‘It’s going to be a harrowing role that will create a major backlash.’
The job description said Netflix was seeking: ‘A boy aged between 13 and 15 years old to play 13-year-old Prince William in the next series... talented, intelligent and sensitive boy who can rise to the challenge of playing this famous character alongside leading British acting talent.’
The part was previously played by Timothee Sambor, who’s 11. Dominic West will be Charles, to Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana. A Netflix spokesman insists: ‘We are well into the process and all is well. Child casting in general just takes longer.’