E! gets 'Royals' treatment
NEW YORK — There's another twisted game of thrones headed your way.
This one involves a vindictive, tightly corseted Elizabeth Hurley as a fictional Queen of England, her willful daughter (Alexandra Park), her immature son (William Moseley) and her plodding husband (Vincent Regan), who wants to abolish the monarchy.
There's also a lecherous brother-in-law, two dimwitted nieces and heaps of sex, drugs and rock 'n'roll. It's all part of E!'s first scripted series, The Royals (Sunday, 10 p.m. ET/PT), about an imagined group of British monarchs..
"What's not to love? It's heaven. It's like the Oscars every day," says Hurley of the global fixation with England's actual royal family.
The series opens with the death of Prince Robert, heir to the throne, which thrusts
his younger brother Prince Liam (Moseley) into the spotlight, forcing him to assume responsibility he doesn't want. He and his sister, Princess Eleanor (Park), struggle with finding their footing as glamorous, adored public figures, while also establishing a rapport with Hurley's domineering, often cruel mother.
"Helena has very different parenting skills to E. Hurley, I hope. I love being a mummy," says Hurley, who is raising son Damian, 12, back in England.
Despite Queen Helena's often caustic frustration with her offspring, who refuse to toe the regimented, tightly scripted family line, Hurley says her character "loves them very much. She wants the best for them. She wants them to be fabulous. Don't all parents? I think this is really crux of our show."
The series was created by Mark Schwahn (One Tree Hill), who wanted to pull back the curtain on one of the most inscrutable dynasties in the world, with imaginary rulers. Setting a frothy drama against the backdrop of the monarchy was interesting, he says, and "it felt like such a natural extension" of what E! was doing, with the network's focus on fashion, glamour and celebrity.
One major stumbling block: accents.
"Everyone I pitched the show to asked me if it could be American. An American drama in the Hamptons. Or maybe it's the president. We've done Dallas. It's a royal family," says Schwahn. "Accents are sexy and compelling. When we look back now, everyone chuckles."
Casting Hurley helped convince the powers-that-be that the show was accessible.And then, of course, there's Dynasty's uber-villainess Joan Collins, who guest-stars in one episode as Helena's mum.
"(Hurley) can play beautiful, powerful, manipulative. She totally got it," says Schwahn. "Most actors want to be the hero. Our queen walks into a room and everyone knows she's in the room. She understands that energy."
For him, the most riveting aspect of the show was the glimpse behind those closed gates, and the difference between the public and private lives of some of the planet's most famous individuals. Gone are the days of Sarah Ferguson having her toe sucked in public, or Princess Diana spilling her woes to interviewers. Today's royals are regal and mysterious and eminently well behaved, with the occasional exception of Prince Harry (and Prince Andrew's sordid sex-slave scandal headlines).
And while Hurley is famous, she's not as remotely scrutinized as a sovereign, whose every ensemble, every gesture, every word is debated. Yet in some ways, she is every bit as focused and decisive as Helena. She tapes all her interviews and makes sure all her work interactions start and end precisely as scheduled.
"I think it's easier to work under that sort of structure. I like to know, also, in minute detail, everything, who'll be with me, what I'll be doing. I like to know exactly. It's work. The royal family are very good at what they do. It's business. Structure actually I think it's quite attractive," she says.