Claire Foy has advised individuals to “shut up” while discussing topics over which they lack the authority. She is best known for her role as a young Elizabeth II in The Crown, said that she didn’t think she was qualified to participate in public conversation.
“What I believe, who I am, and where I stand on things is constantly in flux, as much as it is for everyone else,” she said to Harper’s Bazaar UK. “I have absolutely no authority to discuss or proclaim about anything other than what I do as an actor. If you’re just making noise for the sake of it, then you should probably shut up – so I tend to shut up.”
The actress plays the lead in the upcoming biographical drama H is for Hawk, which is based on Helen Macdonald. Foy portrays Helen, who, to deal with her father’s unexpected death, trains Mabel, a wild goshawk.
“It’s sort of hilarious to me that I did it,” she remarked about learning how to train the birds to prepare for the part. “But then I loved it, because I realised we don’t have enough wildness in our lives. Modern life can be so clinical – it isn’t dirty, it isn’t ugly, it isn’t messy. Sometimes you can feel so disconnected from the reality of the world – the actual world, as opposed to what we’ve built on it. Being with those birds made me feel calm.”
“Coming out of it, I’m realising I don’t feel as comfortable as I normally do, and I haven’t quite worked out why that is,” Foy added, describing the drama’s production as an “interesting experience.”
The actress explained, “When you’re playing someone who’s real, you have to think about what you can do to communicate who that person is without doing an impersonation – you cherry-pick the things you feel resonate emotionally and try not to suck too much… you don’t want to be vampiric about it.”
