When Princess Margaret tells her sister, Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton), in Season 6 of âThe Crown,â âYou know how I hate an empty diary,â Lesley Manville could have been joshing about her own career, which has skyrocketed in America since her 2018 Oscar nod for Paul Thomas Andersonâs âPhantom Threadâ opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. A longtime stalwart of British film, television and theater with seven BAFTA nominations, Manville, 68, has scored her first Emmy nomination for playing the royal âspareâ of her day in âRitz,â Episode 8 of âThe Crownâsâ final season.
In September, her film âQueer,â directed by Luca Guadagnino and based on William S. Burroughsâ short novel, will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. In October, Alfonso CuarĂłnâs series âDisclaimerâ hits Apple TV+ and airs shortly after (she presumes) Ryan Murphyâs âvery off-the-wallâ âGrotesquerie,â which she just wrapped in L.A. There is plenty more in Manvilleâs packed schedule, including three other films and a BBC/PBS TV series.
In âRitz,â Princess Margaret succumbs to three increasingly debilitating strokes alongside flashback scenes of her and then-Princess Elizabethâs V-E Day outing to Londonâs Ritz hotel. Manville describes the emotional episode as âabout two sisters, not necessarily a queen and a princess, who just deeply loved each other, saying goodbye.â A sadly etiolated Princess Margaret died at 71 in 2002.
Manville felt bereft at âThe Crownâsâ conclusion because she yearned to play more of Margaret. âOf course, thatâs unrealistic. Itâs about the whole family, and I canât grumble about the quality of what was delivered. It was really choice.â She wonât grumble either about the incessant chatter surrounding the seriesâ dramatizations, which in 2022 culminated in her longtime friend Judi Dench issuing scathing criticism of the series as âcrude sensationalismâ and âcruelly unjust.â
âOf course itâs speculation, a lot of it, and Judiâs entitled to her opinion. We donât know how Margaret behaved with the speech therapist, so we imagine she was probably pretty irritated. Thereâs that scene and her running through Kensington Palace trying to find an old coat that might have a cigarette in the pocket. Thatâs drama, in the same way that âSchindlerâs Listâ is based on some hard, terrible truths, but around it you write the characters and fill in all the bits. I think itâs a fantastic way of creating drama, so I canât be doing with purists saying, âWell, we donât know if the queen ever said that.â Of course we donât. Itâs an exhausting argument I canât be bothered with.â
If she had any hard feelings for Dench (and she doesnât), they might have emanated from a 1989 stage run of Anton Chekhovâs âThe Cherry Orchardâ when Dench went all out from the wings to try to make Manville laugh, pretending she was being pleasured from behind. It worked, and is probably Manvilleâs most embarrassing professional experience. âI mean, wetting yourself onstage has got to be up there. Judiâs so naughty, and gloriously so.â
Princess Margaret was too. âWe had to do three strokes in a one-hour episode, so we needed to show the progression. The first was quite mild; she came home and before too long was drinking, smoking and behaving badly again. I did go to a hospital and met a variety of stroke victims. It was very moving, obviously. And what a brilliant job the hair, makeup and prosthetics team did; the really clever way we got the mouth and eye collapsing, all done within the parameters of me being able to work and speak.â
Manvilleâs real-people arc continued with this yearâs âBack to Black,â in which sheâs Amy Winehouseâs beloved grandmother Cynthia, a former singer herself who created her granddaughterâs signature beehive hairdo.
I ask when she finds time to sleep, and she laughs. âIâm planning on sleeping tonight! Then I start filming âMr. Burtonâ [a biopic of actor Richard Burton] here in Cardiff tomorrow morning. It has been a whirlwind lately, but thatâs the way it goes.â Sheâs âthrilled and itchingâ to then start rehearsals for her October to January run of âOedipusâ in Londonâs West End opposite Mark Strong.
Any break in her future? âNot for a while, no. Iâm pretty much booked up right through 2025 and probably until mid-2026. Itâs a miraculous, wonderful position I donât take for granted. It is getting better for women my age, certainly, and needs to keep getting better. There are quite a lot of interesting women out there to play. Surprise, surprise!â