The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki on 'HORRENDOUS' Scenes to Film as Princess Diana (

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00:00 Okay, so last night at the premiere, you told me there was this immense responsibility

00:03 that was shared with the cast and the creators and this crew to tell this story and do it justice.

00:08 So I'm curious, how much hesitation was there for you knowing that this is a role that,

00:12 you know, you would lose sleep over?

00:14 [laughs]

00:15 You know, funnily enough, zero hesitation.

00:17 Is this the kind of challenge you're looking for?

00:19 I think so, but it felt like an enormous, I mean, it's just like a gift to be given a role like this.

00:26 It's something you want your whole life as an actor.

00:30 I don't really understand how I ended up here.

00:33 Dashing around.

00:37 And losing sight of myself in the process.

00:42 You know, I think that's been the story of my whole life.

00:47 The scope of it is immense, the pressure is huge, which forces you to, like, evolve creatively.

00:53 But also, like, on a basic level, I loved this show. I just loved this show, you know.

01:00 I was a big fan and I was so nervous to meet Peter and I went to his house and sat down in his living room

01:07 and they asked me to play the part.

01:09 And I, I mean, I maybe took a breath before I said yes, but for me it was a no-brainer.

01:15 And I think with things that are really, truly terrifying, you kind of have to jump before you think, right?

01:19 Absolutely.

01:20 So then I got scared.

01:21 Then I got scared.

01:23 It was a delayed reaction of thinking, "What have I done?"

01:27 But, yeah.

01:29 I have to imagine as an artist it was worth it. Like, that lethal phase was worth it.

01:32 Absolutely.

01:33 I love it.

01:34 Now, you know, some of the images we see of Diana this season are really heartening and really stirring.

01:39 And you totally embodied her. I'm talking, you know, specifically, you know, her hiding from the paparazzi.

01:44 Her alone on a boat. Her struggles with trying to, you know, reach her kids.

01:48 What for you would you say was the most challenging scene to shoot?

01:53 I think all the scenes when I'm trying to get to the phone call with the boys.

01:56 Right.

01:57 Oh, it's Diana calling for the boys.

01:59 You've just missed them, ma'am.

02:01 The prince has waited for your call but has gone back out again.

02:04 I'm so sorry, ma'am.

02:06 Really difficult. Really frustrating. Really sad.

02:09 And sort of just stir up so many very human, like the human experience to being trapped by something

02:17 that feels like it should not be happening to you.

02:20 That there should be some way that you can be protected against it.

02:23 And it's just so aggressive.

02:25 What about William and Harry? What do they think about your new boyfriend?

02:29 Is this the surprise you were talking about?

02:30 Are you going to marry Dodi Faiyaz?

02:31 What's next after Bosnia?

02:33 He tipped. Does Prince Charles approve, Diana?

02:36 Is Dodi going to put you in one of his films?

02:38 That was, they were pretty horrendous scenes.

02:42 How did you get into that mindset of this era?

02:44 It's not, of those scenes, there's no getting into.

02:49 It's like happening to you. You're just navigating, trying to get out of it.

02:53 This era of Diana, for me, it was just always about the kids.

02:57 I just think, they're getting older in the story.

03:01 You want to be with them. Obviously, they're sharing custody.

03:04 And it's just really like so much of my brain in that character is just about when do I see them again?

03:10 I imagine the scenes with the paparazzi, it's also easy to kind of embody her in that moment

03:14 because it's happening to you in real time.

03:16 I clock those exhales that you gave every time the car door shut.

03:20 Right, they're involuntary.

03:22 Well, obviously so much of Diana's life has been documented,

03:25 but we get to peel back some layers in this show and see an intimate version of her.

03:29 This season, we're getting a look into Diana and Dodi's relationship,

03:32 which we don't know much about.

03:34 I was supposed to be getting married. Remember?

03:39 Oh, yeah.

03:43 And now?

03:48 No, I'm probably not.

03:50 What were you most surprised to learn about that?

03:52 Well, you know, I always need to be really clear and say that what we are acting out

03:57 is Peter's interpretation of that relationship.

04:00 So, in terms of the way he envisions it, imagined it,

04:06 and then what Khaled and I found within it was just this really beautiful ease,

04:11 a sense of two people being kind of thrown together under strange, pretty unusual circumstances,

04:18 and as Peter sees it, being sort of engineered by Muhammad al-Fayyad.

04:23 But this really surprising sense of two people finding out that they're very at peace with each other

04:30 and that they can give the other person something they desperately need.

04:34 And I think, for me, inside that character, it was just this sense of somebody really kind of listening to you,

04:39 caring, and wanting to be with you, wanting to be around you.

04:43 Somewhere where one can actually be free.

04:47 Sit under a tiny tree.

04:50 With a boy that you like eating ice cream.

04:53 Knowing that was Peter's interpretation, did you lean on him and what was on the paper?

04:57 Or were you able to, I don't know, reach out to some people who were maybe close to Diana and Dodi

05:01 to kind of get a better idea of how to portray this?

05:03 I think that Khaled spoke to people who knew Dodi at that time,

05:08 and we used some of the information from that,

05:12 and a lot of what was told to us was just that there was this really genuine sense of delight in the other person,

05:19 that they were really having a really fun time.

05:22 That they were very naturally kind of happy together,

05:25 and so we would lean on that information.

05:27 But really, it's what's on the page.

05:29 I mean, that's your job as an actor in The Crown, it's to follow that.

05:34 You brought that to life. I mean, you really did.

05:36 I wanted to ask you about the conversations between Diana and the Queen,

05:39 and also Prince Charles after her death.

05:42 It's over now.

05:47 You stood for everyone with me, Kong.

05:53 No, I didn't.

05:55 What do you think is the meaning behind, and the significance behind those scenes and those conversations?

05:58 I think that they're just a really beautiful expression of grief.

06:02 I think grief is such a huge, slippery, overwhelming human experience,

06:08 and how do you represent that on screen?

06:11 I think anybody who's lost somebody knows that one of the first things that you feel is taken from your life

06:20 is the ability to speak with that person whenever you need to.

06:23 And so I think the idea that Peter has of just sort of expressing that natural desire to just see,

06:30 just one more time, see that person,

06:33 and also say the things that you may not be able to say to them when they're there.

06:40 Right.

06:41 As long as anyone can remember, you've taught us what it means to be British.

06:49 I think it's time to show you're ready to learn, too.

06:53 And so that, you know, I also was able, within the character, to sort of experience that catharsis as Diana.

07:00 Wow.

07:01 To just be able to say to this person who was, you know, is the love of your life, that you always, that you love them.

07:08 Right.

07:09 And, yeah.

07:10 And finally, we heard you were on a strict spray-tanning schedule.

07:12 You spent over 30 hours in hair and makeup.

07:14 How would you sum up this transformation into Diana?

07:17 Did you enjoy it?

07:18 I would say that I wasn't in hair and makeup for 30 hours.

07:20 I think that that is like a total accumulation of all the fittings.

07:25 Right, right, right, right.

07:26 Because I can barely sit in a makeup chair for more than two hours.

07:29 So I was on a strict schedule that it was very disciplined.

07:34 I had to endure a lot of, yeah, a lot of tanning.

07:41 A lot of tanning.

07:42 Because, as you can see, I am a very pale person.

07:44 And people would say, "Why don't you just get in the sun?"

07:46 And I would say, "It's not going to do anything."

07:48 Correct.

07:49 Not fast enough.

07:50 Not fast enough, yeah.

07:51 It was worth it.

07:52 It was worth it?

07:53 Yeah.

07:54 Wow, you looked incredible.

07:55 Thank you so much for your time.

07:56 I appreciate it.

07:57 Okay.

07:58 (upbeat music)

08:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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