Netflix’s hit royal drama The Crown reimagines the historical past of the British monarchy, and for the present’s first two chapters, Emmy-winner Claire Foy held the coveted function of Queen Elizabeth II. Nevertheless, in a latest interview, the actor revealed she was “very upset” to find that her former co-star Matt Smith was paid extra for his portrayal of Prince Philip, regardless of being the sequence lead herself.
Reviews of The Crown’s pay discrepancy first emerged again in 2018, when producers Suzanne Mackie and Andy Harries cited Smith’s Physician Who fame for the reasoning behind his greater paycheck. “Going ahead, nobody will get paid greater than the Queen,” Mackie mentioned on the time.
Chatting with the Guardian in Feb. 2023, Foy — who was reportedly paid £29,000 per episode — disclosed that she first realized of The Crown’s gender pay hole when everybody else did. “I wasn’t shocked. I used to be very upset. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I used to be very upset,” she recalled. “I don’t suppose I allowed myself to [express anger].”
“I actually love my business, and I feel it’s made up of a number of honourable, extremely gifted, sensible, imaginative, superb individuals,” Foy continued. “[But] generally, you see one thing, you hear one thing, you discover one thing or one thing occurs to you, and also you simply go, ‘Oh God, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? Ought to I be a part of this?’ I discovered it actually heartbreaking.”
Reflecting on the preliminary gender pay hole experiences, the First Man star additionally admitted she felt stress from “sure individuals” to turn into a “spokesperson” on the matter. “I used to be like, ‘completely f***ing not,’” Foy informed the Guardian. “I simply suppose all people wished me to behave in a sure approach, in response to it. And I didn’t. ‘It’s fantastic. It’s completely fantastic what occurred.’ That’s what I feel they wished me to say.”
In the meantime, the actor additionally acknowledged that she “nonetheless went again on the present” whereas figuring out the complete “extent” of the reported pay hole, and doesn’t need her “expertise of the present” to turn into “overshadowed” by the controversy.