Elizabeth Debicki was off to the races to accept her award Saturday at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards. But first she needed to take off her shoes!
The 33-year-old actress hit the stage barefoot to collect her trophy after winning the Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series category for her stunning portrayal of Princess Diana in The Crown.
After her name was called, Debicki slowly got up from her seat and made her way to the stage before realizing her shoes were slowing her down. So, right next to Pedro Pascal’s table, Debicki took off her shoes, and off she went. Always the true gentleman, Pascal scooped up the shoes and placed them behind his seat.
Debicki’s first words as soon as she got in front of the mic?
“I don’t have any shoes on,” she said. “Truly, I was not expecting this.”
After saying she was going to “wing it,” Debicki paid tribute to the stars nominated in her category: Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Keri Russell (The Diplomat) and Sarah Snook (Succession).
“The women in my category, I watch with total awe and I learned how to do my craft watching you,” she said. “So being nominated next to you is incredible.”
Debicki also recalled the first time she was ever cast in a play, which happened when she was around 10 years old.
“Somebody gave me that part on the last day of school and it was a 15-minute walk home and I think I just levitated home,” she gushed. “I was so happy. And I feel like that every time someone gives me a job. So, thank you for this. It means so much to me.”
Afterwards, Debicki spoke backstage with ET’s Nischelle Turner and explained why she took off her shoes.
“Yes, I kicked them off because they’re very flat and quite slippery,” she said.
Debicki was cast in season 6 of The Crown, which focused on Diana’s failing marriage to then-Prince Charles and her final days before her deadly car crash. The fatal car wreck — which also killed Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris in the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997 — occurs at the end of episode 3, titled “Dis-Moi-Oui.”
Ahead of its release, Debicki spoke to 360aproko about the responsibility she felt in portraying the beloved late royal.
“An immense, immense responsibility,” Debicki said when asked how seriously they approached the topic. “It’s difficult to describe, it was something that we thought about, that we carried with us, that woke us up in the night.”
The 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards is on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and is streaming live on Netflix from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Follow along at ETonline.com for full coverage from the awards show, including red carpet arrivals, the complete winners list and more.
