You’ll be surprised to know that Elizabeth Debicki, who now plays Diana, Princess of Wales in the Netflix series, The Crown, originally auditioned for only a small role in season 2.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Debicki reveals she was only supposed to get a small part in season 2. Debicki shares that it was her agent who encouraged her to audition in the first place, although it did leave her with the impression that the casting directors were not interested in her.
“So I go into this audition and there’s the casting director there and some producers, when I get halfway through the scenes, and it’s a bit like, ‘OK, thank you so much for coming.’ And I go home with my tail between my legs.”
Debicki exited the audition room, unbeknownst to her that that one fateful day had just changed her life afterwards. She had unexpectedly received a call to play for the bigger role, her current one as Princess of Wales. Read her full story below:
“They saw something ‘Diana-y’ in that audition, which surprised no one more than me when I got the email a few days later. And it was sort of faintly penciling it in like, ‘We think this might be a good fit and we’ll bring it up in four years’ time,’”
The actress describes the ‘four years' time like an eternity in an actor’s life. In the back of her mind, she would have instantly grabbed the opportunity to play the role then and there.
“You’re like, ‘Well, I’ll be old then! I want to do it now!’ It was very, very loosely on the back burner in my mind. But I’d always hoped that it would come back around, but I didn’t know. And then it did and then I was asked to do it in 2020.”
All seasons of The Crown are currently streaming on Netflix.
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