Elizabeth Debicki talks about Princess Diana’s Panorama interview. Image Source: Showbiz Cheatsheet
Elizabeth Debicki talks about Princess Diana’s Panorama interview.
Actress Elizabeth Debicki who plays the character of Princess Diana in Season Five of The Crown recently spoke about the infamous Panorama Interview of the late Princess with BBC journalist Martin Bashir played by Prasanna Puwanarajah on-screen.
Elizabeth Debicki explains that it is the interpretation of very severe security vulnerabilities within the same character, and reaching the point of going to come up against an edge, and how one proceeded to try with it, adding that an actor who is playing a role must be empathetic means and have a love for the individual they are playing on-screen. She went on to say that the actors ultimately come to comprehend their decisions from that viewpoint, from within that mind, and that she acknowledged why that happened in creator Peter Morgan's writing of it, and how it felt appropriate at the time.
The actress explained that when she watches that episode, it strikes her as moving and demonstrates how a show like The Crown can bring about knowledge in heretofore sort of hidden secrets of history. Elizabeth Debicki went on to describe her episode co-star Prasanna Puwanarajah as a great actor, who is really instinctual and profoundly clever, and competent of sort of digging deeper into the role of Martin Bashir.
The infamous interview, which aired on November 20, 1995, shocked viewers by discussing Princess Diana's self-harming, binge eating disorder, and her wedding to Prince Charles, from whom she had separated in 1992. Princess Diana notably said of Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
An investigation led by former Supreme Court Judge John Dyson concluded in May 2021 that journalist Martin Bashir had acted dishonestly to obtain the interview. The reporter had hired a graphic designer to create falsified documents purporting to show money transfers between News International and a former security guard hired by Diana's brother Earl Spencer. The records were used, according to Earl Spencer, "to groom him, so that Martin Bashir could then travel to Princess Diana for the interview he had always been secretly after. Peter Morgan describes this exceptional part of the story in The Crown.
The actress went on to say that what Peter Morgan has done with the episode is bringing to light this unbelievable sequence of events, with data recently made accessible to the world about the process of obtaining that interview. She added that, while she had read the script, she had recently started watching that episode, and it was only through observing it that she realized how all the pieces of the puzzle deviously fit together to create the events that they all came to know as that interview.
The Australian actress plays Princess Diana on the Netflix show and is currently filming Season 6, which will focus on the princess's 1997 death in a Paris car accident that also killed her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and the car's driver, Henri Paul. Elizabeth Debicki will succeeded the character of Princess Diana from actress Emma Corrin who portrayed her exceptionally in season 4 of The Crown. Elizabeth's version of the princess has been introduced to the world on November 9th as Season Five premiered and is currently streaming on Netflix.
When asked if she was concerned that Diana's death would not be impeccably observed on the show, Elizabeth Debicki did respond that she did not know about those concerns but went on to say that creator Peter Morgan manages and controls all of the show's storylines in a genuinely caring manner.
She went on to say that she would only say that Peter Morgan and the entire crew of this job do their utmost really to manage everything with such awareness, truth, and sophistication, as do actors, going to mention that the amount of study and care and discussions and conversation that happen over, from a viewer's point of view, something that one would likely never ever notice, is just enormous. The actress stated that she knew she would be entering a space where this was taken seriously and deeply caringly from the moment she met Peter. So that's her take on the show.
Dominic West, who plays Prince Charles on The Crown in seasons 5 and 6, agrees that no one in the show is taking the princess' death lightly. He described the season as "hell of a season" because it attempts to deal with Princess Diana's death and horrifying scenes, such as having to break the news to the sons. He added that he has two boys that age, so it's a big responsibility to get it right, and one that he believes everyone on the show takes seriously.
The Crown is streaming on Netflix.
