Netflix’s ‘The Crown’: Claire Foy And John Lithgow Talk Playing Queen Elizabeth And Winston Churchill
With awards season upon us, fans of The Crown are hardly surprised that the Netflix series is nominated in several categories, but Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II (at least in Seasons 1 and 2) is new to all of this excitement. Lucky for her, John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill in the series is an old hand when it comes to awards.
But even though Season 2 of The Crown will likely be the last that fans see of Foy and Lithgow, they are making the most of the first two seasons of what is now known as the most expensive series on Netflix, says the Inquisitr. The dynamic between Claire Foy and John Lithgow is a large part of what is making the series so successful, and Foy now claims that John Lithgow is currently her “favorite person.”
Claire Foy shared with Vanity Fair that she is used to being overlooked during awards season, so it came as a huge surprise that she has been nominated, and gets to dress up to attend the lavish events. That she gets to attend with her friend, John Lithgow, is icing on the cake.
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But Foy says that she still has no idea what to expect.
“My work is usually not nominated for anything, so it’s been a complete whirlwind. I’m still shooting the second season of the series, and that feels very regular — but all of this is out of the ordinary for me. I just hope I am not breaking any rules I do not know about. Oh God, please tell me if I do!”
Claire Foy is going to get a trial by fire, as she is getting many notices for playing the young Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series, The Crown. Foy has managed to make the matronly monarch more human than ever before, and dare we say, likable. Foy, Lithgow, and Matt Smith, who plays Prince Philip have all gotten great reviews.
“I do think she’s like everybody else, but she’s not able to express emotions in the same ways as we do. Her duty and her job means she’s not able to be open about her feelings in the way that we all can with our family and with our marriages. Her family was the most important thing to her, and all of a sudden she had to sacrifice them to her job.”
John Lithgow, who will likely take the stage tonight to accept a Golden Globe award for his role as Winston Churchill, has a lot to do in making his Churchill believable, especially physically. John Lithgow is 6-foot-4 while Winston Churchill was 5-foot-6. Lithgow claims he used a famous trick to make himself seem smaller.
“I wore a fat suit, and that did the whole job for me. It made me hunch over a little, and it completely changed the way I moved.”
Lithgow also said that he wore these plumpers inside his teeth to create jowls. He also credits makeup artist Ivana Primorac for helping with the transformation.
“I had these little blobs designed by Chris Lyons, who also created Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher teeth [for The Iron Lady], and I had cotton jammed up my nose. That was my idea — to give me his nasal voice. You do all those mechanical things, and it immediately transformed me. I felt like I wasn’t John anymore, and much closer to Winston than I was before.”
#johnlithgow #goldenglobe the best performance #thecrown pic.twitter.com/eVGExy4ipR
— Judith Espinosa (@judithespinosa) January 9, 2017
Lithgow studied film and speeches of Churchill, paying close attention to his mannerisms. He says that this, mixed with plenty of cigars and liquor, helped him come up with his version of Winston Churchill.
Do you think The Crown will win awards tonight at the Golden Globes?
[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]
