Left Bank Pictures, the production company responsible for The Crown, has issued an apology to Claire Foy and Matt Smith after it was revealed the latter earned significantly more for his time on the Netflix period drama.
The full statement, included below, stresses that neither Foy nor Smith were made aware of “who gets what, and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues.”
Moving forward, Left Bank Pictures has vowed to stamp out any traces of a gender pay gap between its leading stars, with Olivia Colman expected to take over as Queen Elizabeth II from season 3 onwards. Soon after the disparity emerged, viewers called on Matt Smith to donate his part of his salary to the Time’s Up legal fund, though Left Bank Pictures didn’t allude to the petition in its official statement, which reads as so:
We want to apologize to both Claire Foy and to Matt Smith, brilliant actors and friends, who have found themselves at the center of a media storm this week through no fault of their own. Claire and Matt are incredibly gifted actors who, along with the wider cast on The Crown have worked tirelessly to bring our characters to life with compassion and integrity.
The statement continues:
As the producers of The Crown, we at Left Bank Pictures are responsible for budgets and salaries; the actors are not aware of who gets what, and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues.
We understand and appreciate the conversation which is rightly being played out across society and we are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias, and for a re-balancing of the industry’s treatment of women, both those in front of the camera and for those behind the scenes.
We all have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that these issues are tackled, and as a leading production company we want to make our contribution to the debate. As company policy we are engaged in conversations with ERA 50:50 and going forward are keen to talk to Time’s Up UK; organisations which are working to ensure all women have a voice.
Season 3 of The Crown is currently in production, where Colman has assumed the role previously held by Claire Foy. Still no word on who will succeed Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as the Duke of Edinburgh, though we’ll be keeping you right up-to-date as this story develops.