Debicki Dazzles in Nude Illusion Dress at Gala

'It has been a gift.'

The Aussie actress looked stunning in a low-cut Christian Dior gown fit for a princess on the night.

Elizabeth and her co-star in The Crown Emma Corrin recently revealed they both auditioned for guest roles on the acclaimed drama - before starring as Princess Diana. 

Elizabeth portrayed the late Princess of Wales in the fifth and sixth seasons, while Corrin, 28, played Diana in the fourth season. Both stars have won numerous accolades for their portrayals including Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards.

Uniting for Variety's Actors on Actors series, Elizabeth detailed how she had given up on playing Diana after Corrin had landed the role.

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She said: 'Maybe we're better at acting when we're not trying. I went to do this audition because Season 1 had just aired and it was huge… It was so lush. To be frank, the amount of money that was on the screen was extraordinary. It was sort of at the dawn of television becoming this Golden Age - especially Netflix.

'I don't know when House of Cards came out - my 20s are a blur. But I went in for the Season 2 part, and I got an email a few days later from my agent saying, "Not that part, but we are thinking…".

'I guess they must have felt something Diana in it, which is hilarious because I wasn't playing an English person even. 

'The funny thing is, for five or six years, I continued to watch The Crown religiously, and I would think, "I wonder if that's ever going to come around." And when you were cast, I thought, "Well, it was a nice dream."'

Elizabeth - who played Diana in the final years of her life before her death aged 36 in a Paris car crash, said she initially had 'anxiety' over mastering the Royal's distinctive voice.

She said: 'What you as the actor playing that character owe the audience is a very specific sonic imprint. I felt a huge responsibility to get as close to it as I could. I've lived in London a long time, so my Australian accent is kind of transmorphed anyway.

'But of all the accents I've ever learned to do… For Diana, it felt like a music. And that music and that rhythm was so far from how I sense myself as a person. So I worked extremely hard. People ask, "Was there a little hook? Was there any footage you watched?"' 

Corrin - who played a young Diana on the precipice of her marriage to Charles and in the early years of her troubled marriage - said they had studied Diana's mannerisms to accurately replicate the Princess.

Corrin said: 'The most quintessential bit, for me, was the post-engagement interview. The mannerisms that she had, they appear in the moment where she's under such intense emotional stress. 

'They almost become tics. In scenes where Diana's being chased by paparazzi, I've had that a little bit. It’s so invasive, and I've experienced it personally, and it’s the worst thing in the world.'

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