Something that’s bugging me about the Me Too and Time’s Up conversations is the feeling that women who have been victimized – physically, emotionally or economically – have the responsibility to speak up and speak out. It feels like these conversations often get tilted so that instead of talking about “that guy is a sexual predator” we’re talking about “well, the women who worked with that guy need to say something.” Same thing with women being economically punished for being women: instead of focusing on why and how Michelle Williams was paid so little for All the Money in the World, too many were focused on what she would say about it, what her reaction would be.
So to with Claire Foy and The Crown. Foy starred on two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown, and she was by far the “breakout” of the show, winning awards and getting nominated for everything under the sun. That didn’t stop Netflix from paying Foy less than Matt Smith. And that hasn’t stopped people from wanting Matt Smith to donate his salary to Time’s Up. This isn’t about the actors and what they say or do! This is about Netflix and the producers and structural inequities and sexism. But still, Entertainment Weekly chatted with Claire Foy and they asked her about the pay issue. Her answer was not some feminist treatise, but again, it’s not about HER.
Claire Foy has told EW that she is “not surprised” the news that she got paid less than costar Matt Smith for appearing on Netflix’s The Crown became such a big story.
“I’m surprised because I’m at the center of it, and anything that I’m at the center of like that is very very odd, and feels very very out of ordinary,” Foy told EW on Friday. “But I’m not [surprised about the interest in the story] in the sense that it was a female-led drama. I’m not surprised that people saw [the story] and went, ‘Oh, that’s a bit odd.’ But I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the center [of a story] that you didn’t particularly ask for.”
So, has the controversy dimmed Foy’s enthusiasm for watching the next season of The Crown, on which the role of Queen Elizabeth will be taken by Broadchurch actress Olivia Colman. Apparently not.
“I’ll be asking to see it earlier than it’s available,” said the actress. “I can’t wait to see it. I think Olivia Colman’s amazing.”
She’s between a rock and a hard place – The Crown made her a household name, it’s led to more work and awards and more money (from other projects). But yes, IT WAS A FEMALE-LED DRAMA. It’s a show that is literally about the Queen and Claire Foy played the Queen and she still wasn’t paid as much as her male costars. What is she supposed to say? She doesn’t want this to be the story, especially because she’s done with the series. Instead of expecting Claire to be the leading voice in how she was financially penalized for being a woman, maybe we can just continue to have the larger conversation about how women are financially penalized for being women?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Honestly not super surprising — for a show that could have been really feminist and interesting, they spent a lot of time with Philip whining and a bunch of people explaining Elizabeth’s emotions to everyone else instead of letting her do so. I still thought it was very well done, but it’s clearly written from a man’s perspective — and a man who’s admitted that he doesn’t think Elizabeth is particularly intelligent, etc.
They also utterly failed to explore the sisters’ relationship in a way that didn’t involve a lot of cattiness, jealousy, and hostility.
Then you need to look at a fictional story because that is how it was in real life. Margaret was a mess and blamed Elizabeth for a lot of things not going well for her. This remark is just as silly as ones about not showing Phillip because they don’t like that he could be a real asshat. A good, balanced show has a main protagonist, but also has to develop and show the people around her and from different perspectives. The Queen does live in a vaccum all by herself.
The fact that you would expect anything to be represented as feminist from an outdated insitution and from a woman that comes from a family all too proud of their history of looking down on the peasants and their colonial subjects is puzzling to me.
They tried to highlight Lizzies agency and feminism in the Kennedy episode and had no problem using the father of pan africanism to do it was an interesting choice.
The show is entertainment. People complain that it focuses on Phillip too much but for all his faults his royal life actually seems compelling. I can relate to the pains, trials and tribulations of his upbringing.
I still find it odd how casually the producers said that she was paid less then Smith. They were at a q&a and just said it like it was nothing… The fact they they didn’t expect such a clap back is very jarring. People seriously still think that a decision like that is a ok…
And why havnt the Netflix producers offered her equal pay now? Like back pay? With a PR nightmare like this you need to do something about it!
“The Crown made her a household name,”
Whoa! Easy there. It certainly gave her a lot of opportunity but let’s not oversell this. There’s a reason she is careful with her words and we need to understand that. Her movie this weekend even with very modest expectations did not do great. If that Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie bombs it will be “oh yeah, that woman from the Crown, what’s she up to?”. Hollywood is monsterously fickle. Her reserve is very understandable.
Yeah, The Crown is definitely not Stranger Things when it comes to Netflix shows. Foy’s movie, Unsafe, opened out of top 10 this week. She is biding her time for a great paycheck. Her time is not right now but hopefully it’ll come.
The explanation was Matt Smith was the draw after being on Dr Who……………………….not for me. Cannot stand Dr Who and the draw for me was Claire Foy and her portrayal of The Queen – lead roles should have lead role wages, male or female. Utterly ridonk that this is still happening in this day and age.
“…lead roles should have lead role wages…”
Wow, so you really think John Boyega and Daisy Ridley should have made the same $20 million that Harrison Ford got for Star Wars VII? Or are you saying Ford should have been paid the peanuts the lead actors were paid? Should Margot Robbie have been paid Leo money for The Wolf of Wall Street? Or Will Smith money for Focus? Should Chris Pratt have received the same payday as his co-star on Passengers?
Bottom line: The bigger your name, the more leverage you have. The more leverage you have, the more dough you receive. Foy was a nobody when she signed her first Queen contract. The high-profile role WAS the payment. It opened up for her huge opportunities (with big paydays to go along with them). I don’t hear her complaining.
Thank you! People love to sound off about things they have know idea about or have not even given basic thought to at all. They are not two people starting the same job at the same time with the same background. Whether you personally like an actor is immaterial.
Just a random observation that has nothing to do with this article…Claire Foy looks better in red lipstick than anyone on the planet.
If this had been a male led drama in which the actress playing his wife was more famous than him she would have earned more. This is one example where the pay gap is not gender related. It’s counterproductive to keep focusing on it. If anything, the producers of The Crown should be celebrated for taking a risk with a virtually unknown actress that turned out to be the best of the show.
This!! Matt Smith had a huge fanbase before The Crown due to Dr. Who. I know that a lot of people wanted him to play Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and considering how huge the Harry Potter franchise is, that’s saying something.
Claire Foy was hardly known before The Crown.
I could see that argument for S1, before the series had been filmed or aired. But for S2, after seeing how S1 was received, and the kudos Foy was receiving, Netflix could have adjusted things. Yeah, I know, contracts were probably done for 2 seasons to lock the cast in, but when Netflix realized what a critical and viewing success they had on their hands, and Foy’s obvious contribution to it, they could have realized that she was a valuable asset for S2.
And personally, I knew of both Foy and Smith before this aired, and was much more drawn to watch for Foy and for interest in the character she played (and was a bit annoyed at how much air time was spent on Phillip’s ego and whining in a show about The Crown and the woman who wears it)