-Our next guest won a Golden Globe
for his portrayal of Prince Charles on "The Crown".
The fourth season is streaming on Netflix.
Let's take a look.
-What can you tell us about the actual wedding?
-We're not that far on yet,
but for now, w-w-we're delighted, really.
-Mm-hmmm.
-Well, I see you're going to bring a deep and lasting joy
to the nation, and if I may say,
you both look very much in love.
-Oh, yes.
Absolutely.
-Whatever in love means.
-Please welcome to the show, Josh O'Connor.
How are you, Josh?
-Hey, I'm good. How are you?
-I'm doing very well.
I mean, we obviously see from that clip
and anybody who's watched the show,
of which many have, this is a very buttoned-up family,
needless to say.
But when Gillian Anderson was here,
she showed us some off-camera video.
And it does seem like you're actually a pretty fun,
happy lot.
-Yeah. I mean, we're kind of -- It's bizarre.
We're sort of, like, you know, we're obviously playing
these very buttoned-up characters
and that video is incredibly embarrassing, obviously.
But also, it sort of shows how we all were, you know.
Whenever we're together, we're sort of, um...
Usually when the whole cast comes together on
"The Crown", it's for a jubilee or a wedding
or something -- some grand occasion,
so we're dressed up quite smart,
and then -- but its carnage. I mean, it's complete carnage.
you've got Olivia Colman, who's like, "Up for a dance?"
Gillian and Tobias, we're all kind of, you know.
-I think it was very nice for all of us to see
Margaret Thatcher dancing to Lizzo.
Which was, obviously, history didn't allow that until...
-We've all been waiting for that.
-You, um -- From that clip, we also see what a nice job you did
nailing the Prince Charles voice.
Was that -- Did you know much about him going into this?
-Do you know what? Actually, I mean, I really didn't.
I feel like -- it's kind of --
I guess I was sort of a republican.
I mean, I'm sort -- I guess my family and I,
it wasn't something that was, like, very important
to us growing up, and wasn't something we kind of
kept a close eye on.
In the U.K., there was, like, kind of --
there was this spitting image version of Prince Charles,
the comedy of, like, the kind of sort of
comedic version of this -- like, caricature of this guy.
And so that was my sort of perception of him.
And it was only when I met up with the guys,
Peter Morgan, he writes the show,
and Ben Caron, the exec producer and director
that I sort of -- when I started speaking to them,
I realized it was someone --
it was kind of an incredibly complex character.
Someone who was dealing with huge philosophical questions
like, you know, waiting for his mother to die,
for his life to take meaning.
Suddenly, it was like, "Oh, he's not just a kind of prince."
This is a kind of -- this is Shakespearean in its quality.
So yeah, I got really excited once I spoke to them.
In terms of my experience with the Royal Family, I'm the worst
person to talk about the Royals.
I have no idea about anything to do with the Royal Family.
-But I think that must be one of the most fascinating
things about anyone who is making this show right now,
about a family that is obviously still around,
and I have to imagine, especially when you're doing
press for the show, how often people ask you your take
on the current things that are happening with the Royal Family,
be they new babies or, you know, big interviews.
Do you just constantly let people down by having
no interest or awareness? -Oh, completely.
I mean, I remember going to -- We went to the Golden Globes
pre-lockdown, pre-pandemic.
Went to the Golden Globes and I was kind of -- I was wide-eyed
in sort of -- in amazement of the whole thing.
It was the first time I'd been to a major awards ceremony.
And I remember going and we were doing the press line,
Helena Bonham Carter, myself, and Erin Doherty,
who plays Princess Anne,
and we were going through and every journalist
was asking us about Harry and Meghan at the time.
They always ask us about Harry and Meghan,
but this was about Harry and Meghan,
and it came to me, and I honestly was --
I felt such embarrassment at knowing honestly nothing.
I mean, really, it did take a moment to go,
"Who is Harry and Meghan?"
And then I realized who it was.
I was like, "I'm the worst person."
So I sort of -- there couldn't be a kind of less qualified
spokesperson for the Royal Family than me.
-But it must make it nicer, to some degree, to not have
that baggage when you play a part,
because then you can play it like a character
as opposed to, you know, having some -- the haunting image of
the real person sort of lurking over you.
-Yeah. Oh, for sure.
I think this is something that I'm sort of --
I've talked about a lot.
I always think that I've never played a real person before.
But I remember when I was coming to this,
there was a big kind of -- you know, because we'd had
season 1 and 2, and Claire Foy and Matt Smith,
who are unbelievable in playing the Queen and Phillip,
I've had this huge pressure to replicate
the real Prince Charles.
And so did I lots of work on the voice and lots of work
on the way he stands and the way his back is arched
and all these things.
And actually, it took seeing a Todd Haynes film --
the Todd Haynes film about Bob Dylan --
to make me realize that actually, you don't need to
play the real person at all.
And that film, if anyone's seen it --
I don't know if you've seen it, but it's beautiful.
-Yes, it's fantastic.
-8 actors playing, like, not just Dylan
but, like aspects of his personality.
It's like, Heath Ledger plays the sort of, like,
rock star version,
and Cate Blanchett plays the most kind of recognizable
version of Dylan.
What I loved about it is rather than going, "Let's try and
imitate the real Dylan, because none of us know who he is,
let's try and grapple with the poetry
and the essence of someone."
And so, for me, it was really liberating knowing
that I don't know anything about Charles,
so I could never do a good version of him.
But also, I'm not a mimic.
And, that was -- Yeah, I found that really liberating,
just going, "I'm just going to play him for who he is."
For the kind of the essence of him rather than the real person.
-Well, the approach paid off.
It's really a wonderful portrayal,
and thanks so much for being here.
I'm a big fan, and hopefully next time,
you can be here in person. -Yeah, I hope so.
Thanks so much for having me. -Of course.
The fourth season of "The Crown" is streaming on Netflix.