By Alicia Rancilio
NEW YORK (AP) --Controversy and debate surround season five of " The Crown," but Elizabeth Debicki has largely been praised for her portrayal of Princess Diana.
Debicki, best known for her work in the limited series "The Night Manager" and films including "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Tenet," said she prepared for the role more than any previous job she's had.
A delay of filming due to the pandemic allowed for extra time to study and perfect the Princess' mannerisms and way of speaking.
"When I wrapped I thought, 'Well, I've done my best. Now we'll see,'" said the French-born Debicki, who moved with her family as a child to Australia.
She was first told producers had her in mind for the role after she auditioned for a small part in season two, which she says did not go well.
"I was really confused about the part they were asking me to go in for because I wouldn't have at all been physically right for it," she recalled. Debicki wasn't surprised when she received an email with the news that she didn't get the part, but the rest of the message was a shock.
It said, "'We think maybe you'd be a very good Diana.' … it knocked me over. I did not see it coming," said Debicki, adding that she was told they didn't have anybody else in mind for the part. "I was really hoping they were going to ask me, so match made in heaven."
Debicki takes over as the Princess of Wales as her marriage to then-Prince Charles is fast deteriorating. During the course of season five viewers see a recreation of the infamous 1995 on-camera interview that Diana did with journalist Martin Bashir, who used false documents and other tactics to persuade Diana to agree to speak with him on the record.
In 2020, the BBC appointed a retired senior judge to lead an investigation into what happened. A report from the inquiry said Bashir acted in a deceitful way and breached BBC rules by mocking up fake bank statements and showing them to Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, to gain access to the princess.
Debicki says viewers have had strong responses to the Bashir episodes, which both illustrate some of his maneuvers and show an increasingly paranoid Diana who believes she has no other choice than to do the interview.
"It's such a complex, psychological journey the character goes on to end up sitting in that chair… When I learned all the things about what the inquiry revealed to us and then saw how Peter (Morgan) had written it, I knew it was going to be really difficult, but also very important to tell that story," she said.
"That interview for so many years stood as this kind of stand-alone moment in history. (Portraying that) felt — just like the information that came to light — so important that people understand what happened and who's responsible."
In that Bashir interview, Diana famously said, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," a reference to Camilla Parker Bowles. Season five of the series offers up empathy for each of those two women. Olivia Williams, who plays Parker Bowles, wants people to see the now-Queen Consort's dignity.
"She was a victim of circumstance in many ways… She had to move out of the family home. She wasn't yet married to Charles. She had no security. Every picture of her was taken by a man hiding in a bush illegally, trespassing on her property, and so no wonder she looked miserable or angry," said Williams.
"Now she's emerged with this extraordinary warmth and is able to to wink at a bank of press who were formerly her tormentors. There's never been, you know, 'Camilla: Her Story' or a vindictive memoir from her or even a cruel word. I just love her."
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More