‘The Crown’ Star Elizabeth Debicki Says She Couldn’t Stop Acting Like Princess Diana After Filming
“I had to unwind the wheel.”
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Turns out, playing the late Princess Diana on television isn't as easy as just turning it "on" and "off."
In an exclusive interview with People for the publication's latest issue, actress Elizabeth Debicki said portraying the former Princess of Wales in the hit show The Crown was difficult to turn off, even when the cameras stopped rolling.
"My voice changed quite a bit and I kind of had to consciously bring it back to my own voice where my voice wants to sit and also my own accent," she told the publication at the time. "I had to work so hard at getting the voice that I sort of ingrained it so deeply in myself that I had to unwind the wheel."
Debicki went on to explain that she continued to emulate the beloved princess "for a long while" after wrapping the show's sixth and final season, adding that in order to best transform into the royal she had to do "quite a lot of physical stuff as well," including "a lot of head tilting."
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in 'The Crown,' Season 5.
"Someone said to me, 'I think you're doing it when you're trying to convince people something.' If someone was like, 'You can't go that way,'" she continued. "I [found] myself sort of saying, 'Are you sure?' And then I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm slipping into this.'"
"That has left me now," she added, "but I had to do it consciously."
For the uninitiated, the actress played the late Princess of Wales in Seasons 5 and 6 of the hit television series, The Crown. Her accurate portrayal of the beloved princess earned her an Emmy nomination in 2024 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Debicki also won a Golden Globe for Best Support Actress.
"I was so thrilled that so many of us have been nominated," Debicki says of costars and the show's 18 total 2024 Emmy nominations. "That just feels like the cherry on the cake really of such a nice thing.
"The show's been running for a long time and my cast and I have been kind of on this ride for nearly three years in a way," she adds, "in terms of prep and then shooting and press, and so it's just a lovely end to a long and beautiful—but sometimes really challenging—chapter as actors."
Elizabeth Debicki at the 2024 SAG Awards.
If nominations and awards weren't enough validation, Debicki also received recent praise from Sam McKnight, who styled Princess Diana's hair for seven years before her untimely passing.
In a recent interview with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness for his podcast Pretty Curious, McKnight said it has been difficult for her to watch various actresses portray the former Princess of Wales because of "all the mistakes" they've made regarding her hair.
“To most people, they’re not mistakes because they’re only going on what their perception is, but because I knew the real person, it just looks like pantomime to me,” McKnight explained at the time. “Although I have to say, I thought the clips I saw of Elizabeth Debicki in the last season of The Crown, I thought she actually was the first one who kind of (got it right).”
