Claire Foy wins Emmy for 1 minute and 49 seconds of screen time on The Crown

There’s no debate over whether or not Claire Foy is a great actor, but her latest awards win is causing some indigestion.

Claire Foy is a marvellous actor. She completely reigned in two seasons of The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II, turning in a nuanced performance that made the inscrutable monarch more human than figurehead.

But as much as Foy is universally revered for that role, her latest awards victory isn’t sitting well with some fans.

Foy just picked up an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for playing Elizabeth II in the fourth season of The Crown.

Wait, wasn’t Olivia Colman the Queen in the fourth season? Correct.

But Foy returned to the role in a flashback scene in the eighth episode, “48:1”, in which she played the young version of Elizabeth for exactly one minute and 49 seconds on screen, while her voiceover rung out for a total of four minutes and 36 seconds.

Claire Foy won the Guest Actress Emmy for a brief scene in The Crown. Picture: Netflix

It wasn’t just the brevity of Foy’s appearance that surprised many when she won the award, it was also what she was doing – sitting down and reading a radio address into the microphone.

Not exactly the knockdown emotional fight she and Matt Smith had as Elizabeth and Philip in the second season.

Daniel Fienberg, the chief TV critic for The Hollywood Reportertweeted in response to Foy’s award, “How can I put this… nicely (because Claire Foy was great when she was actually on The Crown?

“This is a straight-up embarrassment, and the Emmys need another complete overhaul of the guest acting categories just years after they tried to overhaul the guest acting categories.

“Anybody who voted for Claire Foy to either be nominated for or to win THIS Emmy – again, Claire Foy is GREAT, in principle – should have their Emmy vote taken away because it’s just a way of saying, “Yeah, I don’t watch TV and I don’t care about recognising TV.”

Others also remarked on Foy’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it performance.

claire foy could literally walk into the background of the set of the crown, blink, and then walk out and win an emmy for it.

— marce (@marceltheshella) September 13, 2021

Claire Foy’s Emmy-winning performance in The Crown season 4 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/fpIDmfR0mf

— Will Kellogg (@Will_Kellogg) September 13, 2021

Love Claire Foy, but this is an absolutely terrible win. I hate it so much. Congrats for reading aloud a speech. #Emmyshttps://t.co/mKhhuz9RPq

— Luca Giliberti (@LucaLeonardo99) September 13, 2021

Claire Foy really just won an Emmy for literally one scene where she reads a speech 😂😂😂 #emmyshttps://t.co/ZyVjmLOGi2

— Brandon Schuster (@brandonwrites) September 13, 2021

Foy had previously won an Emmy for playing Elizabeth II for the show’s second season in the Lead Actress in a Drama category.

For the Guest Actress in a Drama victory, she beat out Alexis Bledel and McKenna Grace for The Handmaid’s Tale, Phyllicia Rashad for This Is Us and Sophie Okonedo for Ratched.

The Guest Acting awards are given out during the two-day Creative Arts Emmy ceremony, which recognises achievements in categories for documentary, visual effects, animation and more.

Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit clocked up the most wins so far, nine in total.

Courtney B. Vance won the Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role in Lovecraft Country – he was in three episodes – while Maya Rudolph and Dave Chappelle won in the comedy categories for guest hosting Saturday Night Live.

Foy’s win here suggests that The Crown should do very well at next week’s Primetime Emmy Awards where the main categories such as Best Drama, Best Comedy and leading and supporting acting will be announced.

Claire Foy now has two Emmys for playing Elizabeth II. Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images

Often when there is a lot of support for one series, the momentum sweeps up many of the minor categories even if they weren’t expecting to be competitive.

Foy isn’t the only notable award winner who have been recognised for a fleeting performance.

Beatrice Straight won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for five minutes of screen time in Network while Judi Dench collected the same statuette for eight minutes’ work in Shakespeare in Love.

Anthony Hopkins’ indelible screen presence and eventual Best Actor Oscar for Silence of the Lambs often obscures the fact he was only in Jonathan Demme’s movie for 16 minutes.

Last year, Hamilton star Jasmine Cephas Jones won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Short Form Drama or Comedy series for a 30-second role in Quibi’s #FreeRayShawn.

The Primetime Emmys Ceremony will be telecast on Fox Arena on Foxtel on Monday, September 20 at 10am AEST

The Crown is streaming now on Netflix

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Originally published as Claire Foy wins Emmy for 1 minute and 49 seconds of screen time on The Crown