From “The Crown” to “The Simpsons”, Hollywood Embraces Queen Elizabeth
British Queen Elizabeth has fascinated Hollywood writers and actors during her seven-decade reign and has been portrayed on screen in award-winning dramas, animation, and even on the American comedy series Saturday Night Live. The monarch, who died Thursday at the age of 96, was the central figure in the Netflix Emmy-winning television series The Crown.
Claire Foy won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for playing Elizabeth as a young woman who suddenly became queen at the age of 27. Olivia Colman has taken on the role of her in subsequent seasons and Imelda Staunton will play her in the fifth episode, which is expected to debut in November.
When Foy won the Golden Globe in 2017, she thanked several “extraordinary women”, including Queen Elizabeth. “She has been at the center of the world for the past 63 years and I think the world could use a few more women at the center of the world if you ask me,” Foy said.
Fellow British actress Helen Mirren took home an Oscar for playing Elizabeth in 2006’s The Queen, which focused on the monarch’s reaction to Princess Diana’s unexpected death.
Queen Elizabeth created a compelling topic because she played a role in major world events and because her life story had a “very human element,” said People Magazine Editor-in-Chief Wendy Naugle.
From “The Crown” to “The Simpsons”, Hollywood Embraces Queen Elizabeth
“We can see all the weaknesses in our families,” Naugle said. “We can understand what it’s like when you have a little bit of tension and riffs, and you put the layer of glamor, royalty and duty on it, and it’s a fascinating story.” Not all the time spent at the queen’s cinema turned into a serious drama. The animated comedy “The Simpsons” has worked her into several episodes over the course of 33 seasons.
Although, Comedian Fred Armisen has portrayed the Queen as a quarrelsome monarch in several Saturday Night Live sketches, including one in which the fictional Queen tells the real Elton John not to play his “crappy” songs at a royal wedding. Naugle said she expects more portrayals of Queen Elizabeth on the big and small screen.
“There’s so much to do,” she said. “There’s a lot of this world that people don’t see. And so I think if people feel like they can get inside the palace walls, we’re blown away and want to know.”