Interview
The Crown’s Claire Foy was upset over pay gap with Matt Smith
Actor Matt Smith is one talented and lucky chap; he has been a part of three of the most famous franchises in the world. Be it a Marvel villain in Morbius, a former enigmatic Doctor Who, or a hot-headed Prince Daemon Targaryen in the Game of Thrones House of The Dragon prequel, he has seen the best and the worst of it all. He also played the role of Prince Philip in the historical drama The Crown. And his status as an already-established actor resulted in higher pay, and his co-star Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth II, wasn’t really happy about it.
Foy told The Guardian, “I wasn’t shocked. I was very upset. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I was very upset. I don’t think I allowed myself to [express anger]. I really love my industry, and I think it is made up of lots of honourable, incredibly talented, brilliant, imaginative, amazing people. [But] sometimes, you see something, you hear something, you notice something or something happens to you, and you just go, ‘Oh God, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? Should I be part of this?’ I found it really heartbreaking.”
“I was like, ‘absolutely f***ing not,’” Foy recalled. “I just think everybody wanted me to behave in a certain way, in response to it. And I didn’t. ‘It’s fine. It’s absolutely fine what happened.’ That’s what I think they wanted me to say.”
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