Emma Corrin found it hard not to "take it personally" when Olivia Colman's character was "stone cold horrible" to hers on 'The Crown'.
The 24-year-old actress portrays the late Princess Diana in the upcoming fourth series of Netflix's regal drama and while she was used to her co-star being a "ray of sunshine" when the cameras weren't rolling, she was shocked with the way Olivia turned on her when in character as Queen Elizabeth.
She said: "Obviously, Olivia is the biggest ray of sunshine ever... She just went stone cold horrible. It was so hard to not take it personally.”
Emma admitted she hates being asked about her "iconic" role because she worries it makes Diana "untouchable".
She told Town & Country magazine: "I hate being asked what it’s like to play someone iconic. It makes her untouchable—the whole point was that she was touchable.”
Emma was first brought into the world of 'The Crown' in 2018, when producers needed someone to read as Diana alongside Josh O'Connor, who had already been cast as Prince Charles, while trying to find the right actress to portray Camilla Parker Bowles.
Though the actress' agent stressed she wasn't auditioning for the show, Emma took it seriously.
She said: "Obviously, I was like, ‘I’m going to prepare as if it were.' "
Emma spent hours analysing Diana's speech patterns with the help of her speech therapist mother.
She explained: "No matter what Diana is saying, it kind of goes down at the end. It’s like a sadness.”
And her efforts stunned the team.
Josh said: "I was in awe of her. This young actress who hadn’t done an awful lot, and here she was inhabiting Diana, seemingly quite easily.”
Showrunner Peter Morgan was equally entranced.
He said: "We spent our whole time just staring at this woman reading the lines going, ‘Wow, she’s kind of perfect.' "
Eight months later, Emma was offered the role and celebrated by getting a new pet, a blue merle cockapoo who she named Spencer, which was Diana's maiden name.
She said: "It was the most exciting proposal I’ll probably ever receive in my life."
