news has gained access to the holiest of all. We are the first journalists since before the pandemic to be on the set of one of the biggest TV series of all time. Erik Richter Strand meets us in Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom. – It was a shock when the queen died, he says of the 96-year-old monarch’s passing on 8 September this year. Around us are red velvet curtains, chandeliers and stately furniture. Yellowed photographs on desks and side tables show Queen Elizabeth, her dogs and close family. But they look a little different than they did in the last season of “The Crown”, because now the actors have been replaced. We have arrived at perhaps the Queen’s most difficult decade; 1990’s. The Norwegian director Erik Richter Strand shows news the fictional Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom in the Netflix series “The Crown”. Håvard Blekastad Almås, news And in the middle of the recording, the real queen died. – I experienced that one of my main characters went to die. Then you feel an even stronger degree of the responsibility that comes with it. To do it in a respectful way, which gives that person a kind of justice, says Richter Strand. In the queen’s fictitious bedroom, fictitious family photographs are displayed. Here is Imelda Staunton Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKI fictional family photographs are displayed in the queen’s fictional bedroom. Here is Imelda Staunton Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news Thus he goes straight to the heart of the criticism against the series; namely that it does not distinguish between what is historical reality and what is fantasy on the part of the series creators. From “Occupied” and “Valkyrie” to the British royal family, the 48-year-old from Bergen is new to “The Crown” universe, but has left several successes behind. In 2017, he won the Golden Route for best TV drama with the series “Valkyrie”, which aired on news. He has also directed three “Varg Veum” films and the TV series “Occupied” on TV 2. Erik Richter Strand is pleased to be able to help direct one of Netflix’s biggest successes. Here in place in the bedroom of the series’ Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKErik Richter Strand is pleased to be able to help direct one of Netflix’s biggest successes. Here in place in the bedroom of the series’ Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / news But it was when he directed the British TV series “Behind Her Eyes” for Netflix in 2019 that the royal doors opened. In the autumn of 2020, he was asked if he wanted to help direct one of the most expensive TV series of all time, and the answer came quickly: – Yes, I would. Because it’s a series I’ve liked ever since the first season. A cool series with an exciting story, good budget and very good actors. So it was an easy decision. This is what the entrance to the fictional Buckingham Palace looks like. The upper parts are green, so that the rest of the building can be added digitally in editing. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKS This is what the entrance to the fictional Buckingham Palace looks like. The upper parts are green, so that the rest of the building can be added digitally in editing. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news Now he is one of five directors who are all responsible for two episodes each. None of them are British. The colleagues are from Denmark, Germany, Brazil and New Zealand. – There are a lot of new things to get used to, in being British, which I can’t necessarily understand in the same way. Class structures and how they relate to the royal family – it’s a little different to how we do it in Norway. A lot of secrecy But he must have managed it reasonably well, because Richter Strand is already in the process of recording the sixth and final season of the series. Therefore, there is much that must be kept secret on the set at Elstree Studios outside London. When we go out of the queen’s bedroom, we have to be careful what we take pictures of. We must not reveal anything that will come later. At the George Lucas Stage outside London, “Star Wars” was once recorded. Now it houses the interior of Buckingham Palace in “The Crown”. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKI George Lucas Stage outside London was once “Star Wars” filmed. Now it houses the interior of Buckingham Palace in “The Crown”. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news – It is a very strict secret. You have to sign a lot of contracts and adhere to strict rules, says Richter Strand. But news is allowed to show the historic hall that houses the interior of Buckingham Palace. The George Lucas Stage was the place where “Star Wars” and “The Hotel of Evil” were filmed at the time. We wander around the area and see what we see, but not too allowed to mention. Then we also understand which direction the story will take. Pandemic bubble The pandemic left its mark on the work on the fifth season of the series. Filming began in August last year. Although the rest of society had opened up by then, production was subject to strict pandemic restrictions. Imelda Staunton is the third Queen Elizabeth in “The Crown”. Here, the actor has left his water bottle next to a portrait of Dominic West’s version of Prince Charles. Director Richter Strand says that they became a very close-knit group due to strict pandemic restrictions. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news Everyone was tested every single day before work. – We did nothing but work and sleep. We became a large cohort where we met the same people for four or five months. That made us very close together, says Richter Strand. Contagion was discovered quickly, and production went its way. In the fifth season, which will be released next Wednesday, Richter Strand is responsible for two episodes, both of which are about Princess Diana, her divorce from Prince Charles and her fight against “The Firm”, as the British royal house is often called. Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki is Princess Diana in the fifth and sixth seasons of The Crown. Here she receives instructions from Erik Richter Strand. Photo: Keith Bernstein / Netflix – When you recreate the feelings that might have been there, you also love a person more, he says about his relationship with the popular princess who died in a car accident 25 years ago this year. About the criticism: – We take liberties The series has received a lot of criticism. Among other things, because it becomes more and more sensitive to portray historical figures the closer the series gets to our own time. Several of those portrayed are alive. And several of the viewers have their own experiences of the events. – We have talked a lot about how to deal with the tragedy that unfolded in Paris in 1997. Some decisions have been made that make me feel confident that we are making the series with a respectful handling of the most delicate events surrounding Diana , says the Norwegian director. The first floor of the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street has been built at Elstree Studios outside London. The other floors are being built digitally on the green wall above. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKF The first floor of the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street was built in Elstree Studios outside London. The other floors are being built digitally on the green wall above. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news Beyond the hall, they have built both Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. In the fifth season, it is John Major’s turn to live in number 10. The real Major has become one of the series’ leading critics. He believes it portrays conversations between himself and Prince Charles that never took place. And that it could be harmful to the current monarch. Dominic West plays Prince Charles in the fifth season of “The Crown”. Photographs of him have been given a place in the Queen’s fictional bedroom. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news – We take liberties. No one knows what conversations took place inside closed rooms. It will be a fictionalized version of an event that we know took place that may have taken place in this way. – Do you see yourself mostly as a historian or a director in this work? – As a director, but also as a kind of manipulator of people’s emotions. You have to create a feeling, an atmosphere, he explains. Norwegian surprise Erik Richter Strand is currently filming the very last season of the series. Here, too, he is responsible for two of the episodes. He is excited about how his episodes will be received by the public, but does not expect much attention about his own participation. – I really just expect people to watch the series. And they do that all over the world. So there’s a lot at stake for Netflix. But we who create and direct are not used to so much attention, says the humble Bergen. Erik Richter Strand directs Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki as Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Photo: Keith Bernstein / Netflix We ask if the series will be a bit Norwegian also when it now has a Norwegian director for the first time. Then he becomes cryptic. – There will be a small Norwegian Easter egg in there. – Which is not you? – Which is not me. It is a colleague of yours in Dagsrevyen who is in one of the episodes. Thus we were allowed to reveal two secrets – both the one about Richter Strand himself and about a new Norwegian “The Crown” star on news. But who – that remains a secret for a few more days. Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom, as Netflix has recreated it for the TV series “The Crown”. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKQueen Elizabeth’s bedroom, as Netflix has recreated it for the TV series “The Crown”. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news
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Norwegian Erik Richter Strand directs the Netflix series “The Crown” – Special
