Imagine seeing an open casting call on Twitter for a major Netflix job, applying, and then....landing the part. It sounds like the stuff of daydreams, but for 23-year-old Luther Ford, this is hardly fan-fiction; This was part of his path to The Crown season 6 part 2, in which he plays Prince Harry. Luther's loved ones encouraged him to audition for the royal role after seeing an open call on social media. Three weeks later, Netflix hired him.
"To be honest, it wasn't very scary because I think I was naive," Luther told Cosmopolitan over Zoom in the weeks before the series finale's release. "I didn't really put much pressure on myself and felt like I had kind of succeeded by even getting that far. It's such a prestigious show."
The Crown's final episodes are set in the early 2000s, presenting a unique challenge for the actors involved: Viewers have a much clearer image of the IRL British royals from this era—their voices, their mannerisms—compared to the IRL British royals from 1947, the setting of The Crown season 1. Luther rose to this challenge, and his resulting performance avoids the pitfall of caricature.
"If you become too attached to this interview or this article or this video, you forget what you're actually doing and it can be quite torturous," Luther said of his preparation process. "So obviously you have an awareness of what is going on, but really, the most important thing is the scenes and the storylines that Peter [Morgan, The Crown's creator] is exploring."
Below, Luther chats with Cosmo about the competitive casting call, how he prepared to join the series, his familiarity with Spare and Harry & Meghan, and why not all of his Prince Harry costumes were actually washed.
Congrats on your debut! This is a substantial first big-budget role. How did you hear about it?
It was an open casting call, so it was on Twitter or Facebook. My brother's girlfriend sent it to our family group chat, and was like, 'Do you want to have a go? You're ginger, you fit the bill.' And I thought, 'I don't.' And my mom was also like, 'Yeah, you don't look anything like him.' That's what she repeatedly said until I got it. And then she was like, 'Oh.' [laughs] But I was finishing my last year in film school. I was studying, editing, and directing, and I thought, 'I'll give it a go because it's an unusual opportunity.' But I didn't expect things to come from it. Then I got a recall, and then another recall, and then they asked me to come in to meet the director and Ed [McVey], who had already been cast as William. It kind of very quickly moved, and suddenly after about three weeks, I had the role. It was crazy. It still is crazy, but I guess I've had more time to process it.
What a life-changing three weeks!
Yeah! I also think because they were about to start filming and they hadn't found anyone, I think they just sped the process up. Whereas the actors who played Kate and William–Ed and Meg [Bellamy]—they were casting for like 4, 5, 6 months. Which, I don't know how you do that, that seems torturous. Three weeks was hard enough!
At what point in the audition process did it turn from something lighthearted into something more tangible, where you realized you could really be cast?
I'd done two self-tapes and early on it felt like a distraction, almost. Because I was like, 'Well, there's no way I'm gonna get this, because that doesn't happen. That would be ridiculous.' I was just starting uni so it was this distraction, this thing like 'why was I doing it?' but also fun. And then they called me and said, 'We'd like you to come and do a chemistry test with Ed McVey, who was already in the cast, and I thought, 'Oh, hold on a minute. I feel like something is happening here.' And it was very, very exciting. To be honest, it wasn't very scary because I think I was naive. I didn't really put much pressure on myself and felt like I had kind of succeeded by even getting that far. It's such a prestigious show.
How much was The Crown on your radar before you auditioned for Harry, on a scale from "hadn't seen it yet" to "superfan?"
I'd watched a bit of it. I'd seen a bit with my parents, and I liked it. I wouldn't call myself a fan then, but I'm a fan now.
What did you know about Prince Harry himself? What was your impression before booking the role?
Kind of a shallow, surface impression. I didn't have an active interest in the royal family but they're very much embedded within British culture, so you have an idea. But nothing concrete, nothing in depth.
How did you prepare to take on the task of playing him after learning you got the job? The research potential feels endless, but then what I like about your performance specifically is that it doesn't feel like a caricature, which feels like a trap you could fall into playing someone we're so familiar with as a public.
That's a very nice compliment. Because early on, one of the hardest things is to not do a caricature. Initially, I think probably the first point of contact is the voice; Getting into an area where that feels somewhat close, because it feels like once you have a grasp on that, then you're in the right direction. But I think it's quite easy to get quite obsessive about it, and you start forgetting that you were cast. They want you to find the essence of this person, but they also saw something in you that was already there that they thought was interesting and could somehow relate.
But they don't just say, 'Oh you've got two months, come back when you're ready, good luck.' There are so many people involved who are helping you at every stage. There's a whole research team. They're constantly on hand to be asked about everything. You work with a movement coach, Polly Bennett, and a dialect coach, William Conacher, who each give you very insightful bits of information to help you find a way in.
What's an example of the team helping you find one of those ins?
For instance, one of the kind of preparations I did was I met with this really young guy called Alex who had just become a Marine. And even though the show doesn't touch on anything military, it was, I guess, about finding a kind of posture and maybe feeling a sense of duty. When walking onto the set of The Crown, your instinct isn't to puff out your chest and stand wide and proud because it's scary, but when it comes to playing royalty, they hold themselves a certain way. And so that was important to get my head around. I was slouching a lot.
Where did you begin filming? Walk me through day one.
Day one was a scene in episode nine, the conversation between me and Ed. We were filming in Lancaster House, which is probably the most "royal" location. It's about a five minute walk from Buckingham Palace, so you couldn't be more in that world. There were about 70 supporting artists and the whole main cast who, for the sake of the scene, were essentially also supporting artists because they were just kind of watching. Everyone in the room was miming apart from us, and we were having to project at a louder volume so when they added the sound in post, it would made sense. So the first day was basically everyone watching. It was quite intense. I remember the director coming up to me and being like, 'Your face is very tense.' [laughs] I remember going for lunch and seeing everyone in costume sat around this little table and being like, 'This is so odd.'
How did you and Ed specifically work to nail a brotherly "heir and spare" dynamic on camera?
It's such a unique situation and such a unique experience. Ed had come from a drama school background, but it was still his first on-screen performance, so I think it was equally mind-blowing for both of us and probably challenging in very different ways. The fact that we felt like we had each other through it, and similar to the characters we were playing, no one really understands what it is you're doing apart from him—the pressure, and also the excitement of it all.
In terms of the dynamic of the heir and spare, I think it's something you've seen throughout The Crown. From the first two seasons with the relationship between Elizabeth and Margaret, that still carries through, so it's very much mirroring that and thinking about the nature of siblings and brothers and all the feelings that everyone can relate to where you feel competition and tension and jealousy but you also love them because they're your brother. All of that, but within the royal family? That does take something normal and kind of pressurizes it in a very specific way.
"Pressurize" is a good way to put it. It's an interesting time for this season to come out, particularly in the same year as Prince Harry releasing Spare. How in tune have you been with his real-life updates?
I think one of the challenges in the sense of research is that there's so much material out there about them. And I think at some point, it's not very useful because it's the balance between finding an essence and doing a caricature. If you become too attached to this interview or this article or this video, you forget what you're actually doing and it can be quite torturous. So obviously you have an awareness of what is going on, but really, the most important thing is the scenes and the storylines that Peter is exploring. That's really kind of your central point.
Did you read Spare or watch the Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries, or did you keep away from it?
No, I saw them. And I listened to Spare because he reads the audiobook, so that was really useful from a voice perspective, even though obviously his voice has changed. It was very useful. But also, there was no point for any of us, really, to pay attention to anything that went beyond the show timeline because it's not within the world you're playing. You kind of want to keep things out rather than open the doors to everything.
What was the most fun part of embodying Prince Harry?
I liked wearing a tailored suit, that was fun and helpful. I think hair, makeup, and costume really elevates what you're trying to do and you immediately feel like it makes more sense, especially with clothes. Amy, our costume designer, was very adamant that the casual-wear me and Ed would wear could never be washed. So she would say, 'You're finished for the day, take your costume off. Throw it on the floor and we'll collect it in a big bag.' And I think the idea was just to convey the sense that they're still teenagers to some extent. I would find a stain on my jeans and be like, 'Oh, I remember four months ago I was eating that.' Those kind of details are very useful. And the funnest bits were honestly the bits where we were having fun within the scenes. That felt easiest to do, having a nice time with each other.
Now that The Crown season 6 is here, what do you see for yourself career-wise moving forward? I know you have filmmaking interests, but do you see yourself continuing to act?
I'm pretty much open to all possibilities. The acting industry is a very difficult one, and I feel crazily fortunate to have gotten this. It would be great to build off it. I think I'll always make films and that will always be my longterm ambition, but I'd like to keep acting if possible. But also, it's not really up to me! If someone else wants me to, then I will.
Photographer: Joseph Sinclair
Styling: Ben Schofield
Grooming: Charlie Cullen
