‘The Crown’ Paid Claire Foy Less Than Matt Smith, Even Though She Played the Queen
Claire Foy may have played the queen on Netflix’s The Crown, but it turns out that she didn’t rule the series when it came to getting paid.
According to a report from Variety, producers revealed that Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip throughout the first two seasons, was paid a higher salary than Foy, who portrayed the story’s star, Queen Elizabeth II. We don’t know what Smith earned, but Foy was estimated to be making $40,000 per episode.
Producers reportedly said that the decision to pay Smith more than Foy was not based on their roles in The Crown, but rather on their experience and name recognition. Foy appeared on Upstairs Downstairs and Vampire Academy but was still largely unknown to audiences outside of the UK before her work on The Crown. Smith, on the other hand, had already earned international recognition for his work on Doctor Who.
However, Suzanne Mackie, one of the show’s producers, assured fans that things are going to change when it comes to financial compensation. “Going forward, no one gets paid more than the queen,” she said, according to Variety. That means that Olivia Colman, who will be taking over as the monarch for the third season, should earn more than whoever steps into the role of Prince Philip. (Hugh Laurie is rumored to be in talks now that Paul Bettany has backed out.)
News that Foy was paid less than Smith comes after several other situations where pay disparity has been an issue. We just hope the fact that the queen (or rather, the actress playing her) will be banking the most money for The Crown going forward means that things are finally starting to turn around when it comes to fair pay in Hollywood.
What do you think about the fact that Claire Foy was making less than Matt Smith? Let us know @BritandCo!
(photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
