‘The Crown’ Star Elizabeth Debicki Says Scenes Leading Up To Princess Diana’s Death Were “Completely Unbearable” To Shoot

The Crown star Elizabeth Debicki has described shooting the scenes in the lead-up to Princess Diana’s death as “completely unbearable.”

With Netflix set to premiere the royal smash’s final series next week, which includes Diana’s death, Debicki said recreating some of the most poured over scenes in modern history was “difficult,” describing the task as “heavy and very manic and incredibly invasive.”

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Netflix has already made clear that Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris will take place off screen but the lead-up includes the days prior to the crash and the heavy press attention that Diana and her partner Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) generated. The Crown director Christian Schwochow recently detailed to Deadline the extraordinary efforts that went into ensuring these scenes were handled with tact.

“At times it’s almost like an anomalistic response to being pursued, by that many actors playing the press, because there’s nowhere you can go and you only have to be in a situation like that for about a minute, before you realize this is completely unbearable,” said Debicki, in comments briefed to the press by Netflix. “And no-one should ever be having to experience what it feels like to try and get the scenes in the daytime in Paris, trying to get from one place to another, and to have this swarm around you. You feel very trapped. It’s a really unpleasant experience.”

The Night Manager star, who was Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated for her Diana portrayal in Season 5, said recreating the scenes made her feel that “there was not a huge amount of acting taking place… because it’s really horrendous to have that many people yelling at you and wanting something.”

Debicki said she placed her trust in Crown creator Peter Morgan’s “emotional blueprint” for the people’s princess and wanted to juxtapose the horror of the crash with “real joy, happiness, lightness and genuine fun on the screen” in the early part of the series.

“That was really the piece I felt that I could control, in a way, and that became a real focus. I really needed it. I needed to have a good time, and so we did, as much as we could, with the kids and Khalid and Salim [Daw, who plays Dodi’s father Mohamed Al-Fayed],” said Debicki.

She heaped praise on Rufus Kampa and Fflynn Edwards, who play her on-screen sons William and Harry in the first block of Season 6 episodes, describing them as having an adult actor-like “capacity to carry layers of stories.” “When I met these kids, there’s just an essence. Their energy was perfect, and they were very, very open and very kind souls.”

The Crown Season 6 launches its first block of four episodes on November 16 and the second block four weeks later. The season’s cast remains the same as the previous, with Dominic West playing Charles, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce continuing to portray her husband Prince Phillip.

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