The Crown: Olivia Colman condemns ‘absurd’ claim that her face is too left-wing to play the Queen

A columnist for The Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, previously expressed concern over the actress’s casting as the Queen

Olivia Colman has condemned the “absurd” claim that her “left-wing face” means she is unsuitable to play Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.

In August, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, expressed doubts over Colman’s casting in the Netflix hit, writing that she had “a distinctly left-wing face… hard to describe but easy to recognise.”

Speaking to The Times, Colman called the comment “absurd”.

Colman attends an Oscar party after winning the Academy Award for Best Actress (Getty)

“It’s just absurd to say that you can’t play someone if you’re not actually them,” she said. “I mean, what’s the point in acting at all?

“What’s the point of putting on an accent or dyeing your hair or playing anybody if you have to be identical in the first place and have the same feelings? I think it’s absurd.”

She also added that she personally believed the Queen to be more politically left than right, anyway.

“I think she’s a leftie, but I think what’s extraordinary and wonderful about her, she can be everything to anybody,” Colman said. “Whatever you want her to be, she sort of is. I want her to be a leftie and think she is because she loved Harold Wilson.”

It’s just absurd to say that you can’t play someone if you’re not actually them

Olivia Colman

Last month, Colman told The Sunday Times that she only discovered the furore over Moore’s comments after “getting weird texts from mates laughing at my left-wing face” while on holiday.

“I do feel sorry for [Moore] because he’s had quite a backlash,” she added. “But it was a ridiculous thing to say – that you can’t act or write anyone unlike you.”

Colman succeeds Claire Foy in the role of the Queen in the forthcoming third season of The Crown. It arrives on Netflix on 17 November.