“The Crown” returns to Netflix on Nov. 9 for a fifth season, introducing us to an entirely new cast (again). Moving into the 1990s, Princess Diana, who would be in her late 20s and early 30s at the time of the events in the new season, is played by Elizabeth Debicki. Picking up where season four left off, the show depicts some key events in the royal family’s history, including Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s divorce – meaning, yes, the “revenge dress” makes an appearance.
During a roundtable talk about the upcoming season, Cate Hall, the series’s hair and makeup department head, shares more details about what it was like to re-create some of the royals’ most widely recognized moments – including how much pressure the people behind the scenes feel to get it right.
“It’s a bloody long process that goes over months and months where you make these very incremental steps,” Hall tells reporters. “You start commissioning things at the beginning and hoping you’re making the right choices.”
Season five – just as the others before it – relies heavily on wigs to transform the modern-day actors into the iconic royal family from decades past. Hall explains that the wigs were reworked again and again and went through “awful phases” until they got them just right.
Keep reading to learn more details about Princess Diana’s look in season five of “The Crown.”
Netflix / Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein
What It's Like Working With a New Round of Actors
In season four, we were introduced to Princess Diana’s character for the first time, played by Emma Corrin. But in season five, the late icon is played by Debicki. Though this may seem like a challenge for continuity, Hall doesn’t view it that way. Instead, each season is a chance to start fresh. “It’s an opportunity, not a challenge, because you learn so much with every season to do it fresh, but in a new period,” Hall says.
Netflix / Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein
The Key to Re-Creating Princess Diana's Iconic Look
Whenever real people are portrayed in a film or TV show, hair and makeup teams have the tricky job of replicating enough of the person’s look without coming across as costumey. It was the same case for Ana de Armas’s Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde,” Austin Butler’s Elvis in “Elvis,” and Lily James and Sebastian Stan’s Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in “Pam & Tommy.” Though the actors are decked out in wigs and bald caps, the viewer isn’t supposed to see that.
“What we’re trying to do all the time is find this very human realness in the image, and we are trying to include enough of the actor so that what we’re not doing is a parody,” Hall says. “Elizabeth Debicki is not Princess Diana.”
That said, when the hair and makeup team get it right (which they did in “The Crown”), you do occasionally get to escape completely into the picture – even if only momentarily. “In some moments, you do have this kind of heartstopping moment where you see this glimpse where actually I don’t think you’d be able to tell the difference between the two.”
In addition to the hair, the makeup and even the tan skin that Princess Diana had were key details they included to transform Debicki into the “Diana that we remember,” Hall says.
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Hair Helps Viewers Identify Each Royal Family Member
When we think of the royal family – not just Princess Diana but also Queen Elizabeth and Camilla Parker Bowles – most of us can picture their likenesses immediately. A lot of that has to do with their signature looks. “We always start with that very iconic outline, because most of the royal family – and most people of every period – have a kind of shape that’s not very conscious,” Hall says. “There was a shape to their hair, and there is a tone and a texture to their makeup that roots them in that period and to that person.”
In Hall’s eyes, as long as the hair and makeup artists were able to re-create each person’s silhouette, that was enough. “I think about the shape, and the silhouette, and the outline,” she says. “I always think if someone looks like the person from behind, then we’re kind of winning.” The rest is up to the viewer to fill in. “They don’t need someone to have a prosthetic nose in order to inhabit the drama.”
Netflix / Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein
The Pressure of Getting Monumental Moments Just Right
The royal family are incredibly well documented – possibly better than any other famous people in history. Many of us can probably recall exactly what Princess Diana looked like in the “revenge dress” and her Harvard sweatshirt ensemble, for example, which puts a lot of pressure on the hair and makeup team. “We know when there are those moments that the spotlight’s going to fall on,” Hall says. “Those visually iconic moments you know you’re going to get so much attention for – you just have to get them right.”
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Standout Looks Worth Noting
Princess Diana is a clear favorite of season five, but Hall has a few other standout looks that are worth noting. “I had so many favorites that it was like wig heaven,” she says. One was Jonny Lee Miller as John Major; he transformed into “this middle-aged, sort of slightly nerdy, ’90s guy who kept the same haircut for years, and years.”
Camilla Parker Bowles, played by Olivia Williams, is also worthy of a mention. “That was such a satisfying haircut,” Hall says. “It’s not very glamorous; it’s not overly styled, and yet, it captures something that I feel very proud of.”
Though you shouldn’t be able to recognize it, you’ve seen Camilla’s wig before – in a previous season on Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth. “It’s Camilla’s old wig sort of transformed and altered, which I always get satisfaction from the moments where we use an old Claire Foy wig for a random person,” Hall says. “It’s good to recycle.”
