Gillian Anderson as Mrs Thatcher in The Crown
(Picture: AP)Gillian Anderson said she wanted to “get a balance” of Mrs Thatcher’s voice rather than playing it differently in every scene in The Crown.
The actress, who plays the former Prime Minister in the new series of the royal drama, said the challenge of capturing her distinctive diction was how much it changed depending on circumstances.
She said: “She had a voice when talking to [her husband] Denis and she had a voice when she was talking to the Cabinet.
“She had a voice when she was joking around with the ministers and, when talking at the party conferences, she had a tendency to pitch up a little and be a bit preachy.
“I wanted to get a balance of all that, an amalgamation, rather than getting too caught up in having different versions of her voice for different scenes.”
Gillian Anderson
Liz Collins/PORTER/NET-A-PORTER.comAnderson said it helped that, although she spent her early years in the UK, she moved away just as Mrs Thatcher entered Downing Street.
Gillian Anderson
Liz Collins/PORTER/NET-A-PORTER.comShe told Porter: “My family moved to the States in 1979, the year she came to power, so I don’t feel like my experience of her was anything like it might have been had we stayed and [I had] been around adults who were expressing their opinions.
Gillian Anderson in Porter
Liz Collins/Porter/NET-A-PORTER.COM“I hadn’t developed any kind of opinion whatsoever. I only heard people’s very strong reactions with regards to her policies when I was an adult, so I did start with a blank slate.”
To see the full interview, read PORTER at https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-gb/porter/article-da2192dd4f39e8ca
