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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 25 noveMber 2019
Times, actors are changing as 'The Crown' enters 1960s, '70s

By LYNN ELBER queen, the other showing
Associated Press a woman edging toward
LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The middle-age mundanity. A
Crown" opens with a clev- subordinate clumsily tries
er acknowledgment that to gloss over the physical
time has passed for Queen differences, but Elizabeth,
Elizabeth II and taken with it now embodied by Olivia
the Emmy-winning actress Colman, will have none of
who played her in the Netf- it.
lix drama's first two seasons. "One just has to get on with
In the scene, postage it," she says, tartly, advice
stamp portraits are dis- for herself and the audi-
played for the monarch: ence that will meet other
one with Claire Foy's like- series newcomers, includ-
ness as the alluring young ing Helena Bonham Carter

In this image released by Netflix, Olivia Colman portrays Queen Elizabeth II in a scene from the
third season of "The Crown," debuting Sunday on Netflix.
Associated Press

as Princess Margaret and cism, and fraying interna- nominations for "Frost/Nix-
Tobias Menzies as royal tional relations, particularly on," about journalist David
spouse Prince Philip, when between Britain and the Frost's TV interviews with for-
the 10-episode third season United States under Presi- mer U.S. President Richard
is released Sunday. Josh dent Lyndon B. Johnson Nixon, and "The Queen,"
O'Connor and Erin Doherty (the explanation offered: featuring Helen Mirren's Os-
join the cast as Charles and Johnson is peeved over Wil- car-winning performance
Anne, the grown offspring son's refusal to support his as the monarch grappling
of Elizabeth and Philip. Vietnam policy). The sea- with the repercussions of
Peter Morgan, the series' son ends in the late 1970s. Princess Diana's death. In
creator and writer, said Morgan said he wasn't 2017, Morgan earned the
transparency was the "engineering" parallels be- British Film Institute's highest
proper approach. tween then and now, but honor, the BFI Fellowship.
"I thought, let's just get it realistically depicting a Ben Caron, an executive
out in the open. It's always "country really at its own producer and director for
best to, as it were, be hon- throat" during that period. "The Crown," called Mor-
est and direct about it: "You have the left and the gan's writing "the very best
We're changing cast. This right screaming at each of the best."
is the new one," he said other, and not hearing and "But the edit is when Pe-
in a phone interview from not listening to one anoth- ter's innate understanding
London this week, with pro- er," Morgan said. "In a funny of his own material comes
duction for next season's way, it was reassuring be- into play. He is brutal with
episodes in progress. cause what the show has his own work — cutting out
There's change as well continually reminded me whole scenes, speeches,
in swinging 1960s Britain, of, again and again and moments — in order to re-
where this season of "The again, is that crisis is the fine, refine, refine," Caron
Crown" begins with the default position rather than said in an email. "It's a writ-
Labour Party narrowly win- harmony. But we project a er's instinct as much as a
ning power and Harold harmony into the past." filmmaker's, this whole idea
Wilson (Jason Watkins) in- The series artfully weaves of, 'Why use 10 words when
stalled as prime minister. together the political and you can use one?' It often
Cold War rumors that Wil- personal. There's a tender means we lose a lot in the
son is a Soviet spy are fever- scene in which Elizabeth edit, scenes that we've
ishly circulating, a reminder visits a frail Winston Churchill slaved over, beautifully
that the spread of dubious (John Lithgow, who won shot work, prized moments,
information predates the a 2017 Emmy for the role); but his instincts are always,
internet. When the allega- a wrenching disaster that always right."
tion reaches the queen via tests the queen's capac- Morgan said he's become
Philip, she sensibly asks the ity to serve as comforter- comfortable with dramatiz-
source. His nonchalant re- in-chief, and a national ing the famous, but admits
ply: "Friends at the club." economic crisis that gives that finding his approach
Current events echo else- second-fiddle Margaret a to the modern genre wasn't
where in "The Crown," in- chance to shine. easy. His breakthrough
cluding frustration over Morgan is an esteemed came on "The Deal," a Brit-
economic disparity that chronicler of authority and ish TV movie about Labour
exposes the monarchy's privilege, earning Acad- colleagues and rivals Tony
expensive upkeep to criti- emy Award screenwriting Blair and Gordon Brown.q