‘The Crown’ cinematographer Adriano Goldman on shooting the final episode [Exclusive Video Interview]

Few have had more of a direct impact on “The Crown” than Adriano Goldman. The cinematographer shot 28 of the show’s 60 overall episodes, including the pilot and series finale. Along the way, Goldman won two Emmy Awards for his work and, thus far, has been nominated five times by the academy.

“It was a long journey,” Goldman tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview as part of our Meet the Experts: Cinematographers panel.

For Goldman, the finale was a special moment for several reasons. The episode was directed by Stephen Daldry, an executive producer of the Netflix drama who directed the pilot episode of “The Crown” and three other episodes in the first and second seasons before leaving for other creative projects on stage and screen.

“When I heard that he was considering coming back for the finale, I felt privileged to be able to go full circle with such an incredibly creative artist,” Goldman says. “Plus, the coincidence that we shot the very last shot on the very last shooting day was also very emotional for all of us. These are people we’ve worked with for seven or eight years. So it was a very special journey. And I’m very proud of my work and what we delivered season after season. Yeah, it was just a special.”

“The Crown” series finale was also noteworthy because its the show’s only episode to feature all three Queen Elizabeth actresses: Emmy winners Claire Foy and Olivia Colman returned to the series as guest stars, and their Queen Elizabeths shared the screen with Imelda Staunton’s take on the royal leader. Goldman says it was touch and go whether or not the team would have been able to pull off the meeting of the queens from a logistical standpoint, but he’s happy things panned out.

“It was a privilege,” Goldman says. “Not only because I had worked with all of them from the very beginning [but because of the way it was executed. … There’s a very special flavor to whatever Stephen does. He’s incredibly, incredibly enthusiastic. He came in incredibly motivated, like it was the first time he was ever doing the show.”

Goldman says Daldry also fought for the show’s length to feel appropriate of its conclusion. “I love the fact that it is a proper finale. It’s a very moving episode, and long,” he says, noting that it’s the longest episode of “The Crown.” “I think we made the right choices of actually giving the finale a little bit more weight. So I think this was very clever.”

All episodes of “The Crown” are streaming on Netflix.

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