‘It was odd’: Imelda Staunton on playing Queen Elizabeth in ‘The Crown’ after her death

Imelda Staunton is all set to take over the lead role as Queen Elizabeth in the final two seasons of The Crown, a Netflix horical drama created Peter Morgan which chronicles the hory of the British royal family during the mid to late 1900s. She has succeeded Claire Foy and Olivia Colman in portraying the role of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. However, playing the role was a particularly significant and, admittedly, an “odd” moment for the actor as she happened to film the scenes on the day of the Queen’s death and also a day after her funeral.
“Everyone was extremely sad and I know I was very inconsolable that evening,” the Oscar-nominated actor said of learning about the Queen’s passing on September 8. “My reaction surprised me. Of course, I would feel something. But having lived with her very closely for two years, it felt strange,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

The makers of The Crown then halted the shoot for a few days as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth. This brief break helped Staunton settle back down. “Like I say, the production did stop and then at the schedule we were on, I was off for 10 days. And I was very grateful for that time off to sort of settle back down. I feel for the crew who had been working on it from day 1. I think there was a great sense of sadness, no doubt,” she said.

Post the break, when Staunton transformed into the Queen, some people on the set found it difficult to look at her, she revealed. “We filmed the day after the funeral and I felt it was difficult for the other people looking at me ’cause we have a lot of supporting arts and they were all looking at this act of playing the person who had been buried yesterday. So, it was odd.”

The actor also opened up about the significance of portraying the Queen of the late 1900s. “This is about a tumultuous time for the royal family and Peter hasn’t shied away from that,” she said, adding that “this Queen is a more familiar look for many people around the world”.
She continued, “Certainly, for Claire Foy, when it started that was like a costume drama, many years ago. And this is the present queen, what she was like in the ’90s. So, I felt more daunted.”
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