Gillian Anderson of 'The Crown' reveals 'notorious' part of Margaret Thatcher

Gillian Anderson said getting Thatcher's look right was the first step towards perfecting the role

By
Web Desk
|

Gillian Anderson said getting Thatcher's look right was the first step towards perfecting the role

Gillian Anderson came forth detailing how she emulated British PM Margaret Thatcher in Netflix series The Crown. 

In a chat with Elisabeth Moss for Variety Studio: Actors on Actors, Anderson said getting Thatcher's look right was the first step towards perfecting the role. 

"She was notorious for having bad teeth. And because she has such an overbite, I was just wanting to explore that," said Anderson. "Everything just looked wrong."

The actress explained that she and the show's makeup artists "were thinking about teeth prosthetics, and so we tried three or four different shapes, sizes."

Not satisfied with the options, Anderson decided to tap into her own physicality: "It became, is that something that I can just do with my mouth, and how I hold my mouth? I actually found that, yes, that was enough. And that informed how I spoke. It was actually a gift to have made that choice, because that informed everything."

Reacting to the transformation, Moss told Anderson, "It's an absolutely mind-blowing transformation. I'm very familiar with you as an actor, and I just could not see you. I just kept forgetting. You don't seem at all hampered by the makeup or the wig."