What was the key to playing Margaret Thatcher?
First and foremost, her voice. Without that, the rest of it really falls apart. Obviously, there are a lot of elements that go into putting her together physically—her mannerisms, the way she holds herself, her particular stride and other things, like her hair and clothes.
Is there a responsibility to playing a real-life character?
In playing an historical character, there’s a responsibility to the individual and the family. Certainly, for a woman who was the first female prime minister for such a long period of time, there is a great deal of varied opinion about her. She’s certainly polarizing.
Did you find yourself having to restrain your performance from going over the top?
Certainly, when I was working initially with a voice person and trying to get it right, he kept encouraging me to go over the top in order to be able to pull it back. Because on the one hand you think that she’s quite monotone, but on the other hand she did have a lot of different colors in her vocal timbre. And so, it was trying to find the right balance. She had a different voice for interviews, speeches and party conferences. So probably one of the biggest challenges was finding a voice that felt grounded in all aspects of her. And finding something that didn’t grate too much on the audience or feel like it was parody.
How did you research the role?
I read a few biographies, I read and listened to her autobiography, and lots and lots of videos and documentaries. There was a fantastic BBC documentary that just landed around the time that I was doing research that was a real gift. But there’s so many interviews from different stages of her premiership, also when she was leader of the opposition, and because she was in the public eye. Actually, we don’t realize for quite some time in politics that there’s quite early video footage of her. Not that that helps with this period of 11 years [in The Crown], but it does help to see aspects of her personality that maybe she tried later to keep under wraps a little bit. So there was a lot of stuff out there.
What was it like working with Olivia Colman in the scenes between the PM and the queen?
It was great working with Olivia. She’s a fantastic actress, fantastic human being and person to have working across from you in a scene, especially in such long scenes as those. Very patient, very funny. She makes it look very easy.
How much of this season is about Thatcher as opposed to the queen?
At the end of the day, this series is about the Crown, and so any view of the prime minister is through that lens. And so, we’re only really going to see small slices and snippets of the prime minister in political situations and in relation to the queen. I was in six of the 10 episodes, so the story is told in little bits and pieces.
Can you imagine making some of the choices that she made with her children? She very much favored her son over her daughter, and she used her position of power, actually, to try to track him down when he went missing.
I think probably anybody in that circumstance would use their position of power to try and find their son. Especially if you’re concerned that they have been kidnapped for political reasons. But I have a very different relationship with my children than either Margaret Thatcher or the queen had with theirs. I think when taking on someone, you have to leave your opinions about how they are in all areas of their life at the door because it can very much get in the way. Her first love was politics. And she put that above pretty much everything else most of the time. There are certainly consequences for her kids. But that’s neither here nor there, really.
Do you think that for actresses of a certain age that TV is the place to find the best roles these days?
That has been the case for a while now. It doesn’t seem to be the case as much in features. I’m not quite sure why that is. It feels like the film industry needs a big, old shakeup in that department. Certainly, television is a great place, and has been for at least a decade for women of a certain age to make their mark, for actors to keep working.
What does The X-Files mean to you?
I feel very blessed to have been a part of something that is considered one of the top iconic television shows of all time. That feels like a very, very long time ago, but also something that people still continue to bring up to me. Somehow, it’s still very relevant to a lot of people. Next, See Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in Brand New Photos From The Crown Season 4
