Matt Smith almost turned down his role in ‘The Crown’ because of his experiences on ‘Doctor Who’.
The 33-year-old actor became a household name when he played the Time Lord in the BBC show or four years, and he was wary of taking on another potentially-time consuming TV show such as the Netflix period miniseries.
‘The Crown’ producer Andrew Eaton said: "He was umm-ing and aah-ing, because he’d done ‘Doctor Who’ for so long.
"I think he was wary about getting into a show that would take up a lot of his time and keep him from doing other things."
But producers were thrilled to finally persuade Matt to sign up to play a young Prince Philip opposite Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth as they were convinced no one else could do the part justice.
Andrew told reporters: "We saw quite a few actors to play Philip, but it was clear from the auditions that we all became a bit fixated that he was the only person who could do it.
"He and Claire work in completely different ways. And they’re quite different people, but they just gelled from the get-go."
And Andrew believes the role will show a whole new side to the actor and make other producers look at him differently.
He said: "I think he’s got a fantastic quality to him. ‘Doctor Who’ put it all in the one direction, and you realise he’s got so much more to give.
"He’s obviously well known to a certain area, he was having to nip off during the shoot to do various Comic Con things and stuff, so he’s obviously known in that world.
"But I think outside that he’s not really known as a film actor particularly yet, so I’m sure for Hollywood and other places it’ll probably change his profile.
"Obviously when you were filming you’d get a lot of kids of a certain age who’d flock to him in complete awe, and he’s brilliant at that. He has a real sweetness about him which I think comes out in his acting."
‘The Crown’ streams on Netflix from November 4.
Matt Smith was unsure about another TV role
