Royal Family news reveals that the cast and crew of “The Crown” were recently joined in London by Netflix executive Ted Sarandos for the premiere of the show’s fifth season. Read on and we’ll tell you how that went down.
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Royal Family News – Sarandos Calls The Crown the Highlight of His Life
Royal Family news reveals, according to Variety, before The Crown premiered at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on Tuesday, Ted Sarandos took to the stage and introduced the new season. During the speech, the Netflix boss called the popular series the “crown jewel” of the Netflix original series lineup.
“This really has been and continues to be the highlight of my personal and professional life,” the Netflix bigwig said of the show. “And I’m incredibly in awe with [Peter Morgan’s] vision and with his writing. And I am incredibly, incredibly grateful for your friendship. Peter, thank you so much” (via UK Daily).
The Criticism
Sarandos took the opportunity to reiterate that The Crown is a “dramatization” of the monarchy. As royal watchers know, there has been a lot of debate in the UK lately as to how much liberty the show takes with creative license. Some have even called for a disclaimer so as not to confuse or mislead the audience.
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Judi Dench, who portrayed the first ever female ‘M’ in the James Bond franchise accused The Crown creators of “crude sensationalism” in an open letter to The Times that ran on October 20.
Already Filming The Crown, Season 6
Also in attendance at the premiere were Imelda Staunton, Elizabeth Debicki, Jonathan Pryce, Jonny Lee Miller, Dominic West, and Lesley Manville. The entire group joined the show’s creator Peter Morgan on stage, despite the fact that the show was in the middle of filming season 6.
As if pointing to that very fact, Staunton (Queen Elizabeth II) said, “I’m leaving in five. I’m back to work tomorrow.” Morgan chimed in, adding, “We’re filming in the morning. We’ve been filming for 10 weeks, I think. Another 30 to go.”
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Crown Actors Share History with Theatre Royal Drury Lane
For Pryce, the theater reportedly brought back some memories of the 1989 West End premiere of “Miss Saigon” in which Pryce, who is taking over the role of Prince Phillip in The Crown, portrayed the Engineer.
“It’s great being back in Drury Lane where I was 32 years ago for the opening of ‘Miss Saigon,’” the actor said, explaining that, while he had been performing on stage, Miller had been employed as a clerk in the same building. “In the auditorium, selling programs and ice cream was Jonny Lee Miller,” he said, as the audience cheered.
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