-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning
actor you know from "The X-Files,"
"The Fall," and "Sex Education."
She stars as Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season
of "The Crown," which is streaming on Netflix.
Let's take a look.
-The way those men patronize me, lecture me --
the squires and grandies. -Upper-class bastards.
-And their ideas, their solutions
to the problems this country faces,
so unimaginative
and cautious
and wet.
-Please welcome to the show Gillian Anderson.
How are you? -I'm good.
Can you hear me? -I can hear you great.
Thank you so much for being here.
I'm such a big fan. -Pleasure, pleasure. Same.
-I want to ask about "The Crown,"
because it strikes me that playing Margaret Thatcher
is a lot more fun than it probably was
to be Margaret Thatcher.
Is an that probably an accurate observation?
-Oh, interesting. Well, definitely.
I think when you're surrounded by people like Olivia Colman
and Josh O'Connor and everybody else,
it's a fantastic cast, and they make it a lot of fun.
And so we had a lot of fun.
-Yeah, because I feel like the real Margaret Thatcher
probably never, like, reclined quite like this.
[ Both laugh ] -Maybe not.
-And certainly Margaret Thatcher and the Queen never...
[ Laughter ]
I mean, of course, selfies weren't as in vogue
when they were hanging out together.
So there's no way of knowing, as a historical record,
if that would have happened or not.
I think people might not know, certainly in the States,
might not fully appreciate how funny Olivia Colman is,
as an actor and as a comedian.
And there was a video. This was before pandemic,
when you guys were shooting together.
But this was a funeral scene,
and when the cameras were not rolling,
the cellphones were, and you guys were doing
a choreographed dance to Lizzo.
How did this come about?
-Well, Olivia apparently does a dance class,
in the area that she lives,
with a bunch of friends, on a regular basis.
And she -- And the last time she did the class she was --
they had danced to that song -- that Lizzo song.
And she asked if we would happen to be interested
in maybe doing it, and she would video it.
And then she would just share it only with her friends...
-[ Laughs ] -...the other dancers.
And so it was never meant to see the light of day.
-And yet, here we are, the light of day.
-And yet here we are.
-One.
-♪ I do my hair toss ♪
♪ Check my nails ♪
♪ Baby, how you feelin'? ♪
♪ Feelin' good as hell ♪
♪ Hair toss ♪
♪ Check my nails ♪
♪ Baby, how you feelin'? ♪
♪ Feelin' good as hell ♪
-Whoo! [ Laughter ]
-It's really good. You guys are really good.
-So humiliating. -[ Laughs ]
-That look on my face, I don't even know.
I mean, there's such delight and shame.
-I would like to say both, but I think you did a better job
than Margaret Thatcher would have done,
and also acknowledging that I think
that's a pretty low bar.
[ Both laugh ]
-Thanks. -It must be interesting
to play a character like Margaret Thatcher,
who's so polarizing. Like, there's nobody left,
I would guess, who's on the fence
about how to feel about -- you know, like, "I need
a little bit more information about Margaret Thatcher."
Does that make it interesting, playing somebody like that?
-Well, yeah. I mean, I think most actors
are interested in complex characters.
I don't think there is anyone, maybe, historically,
who's as complex as she was, and continues to be,
based on the very, very strong feelings
that people continue to have about her.
-It's not just, you know, a voice
that you have to sort of adopt, but also it seems
like there is some, like, facial contortions
that you went through to get a proper Margaret Thatcher.
-Yeah, I mean, we started out with teeth, trying to --
because she had famously bad teeth.
And we tried with prosthetics and stuff,
and none of that worked,
and then it came down to kind of figuring out
maybe how to hold my face differently,
so that I had buck teeth without having buck teeth, sort of.
Because she had "bucker" teeth than I did.
[ Laughs ] And so, yeah.
So there is a kind of an overbite
that I adopted in order to be her.
And so, yeah. -Do you ever find yourself,
like, even when you're not playing the role,
do you find yourself, like, drifting
into Margaret Thatcher face, ever?
-[ Laughs ] "Margaret Thatcher face."
Yeah, I only feel like I'd let go of that
maybe about three or four weeks ago.
We stopped shooting in February, I think.
Because I would find myself watching, you know, television
with my kids or something or reading a book
and realizing that my face was in that position.
That overbite and, yeah.
And then I did third season of "Sex Ed,"
and she kind of snuck in there every once in a while.
I'd have to say. "No, wait, wait, sorry.
You may not realize that, but I know,
because she just walked in the door.
Can we please do another take?"
-There's a very unique kind of person
who only wants their sex education
from someone talking like Margaret Thatcher,
and you are perfect for them. [ Laughs ]
-Great. Introduce me.
-Now, you mention your kids. Do you have -- is it three boys?
-I have two boys and one girl. -Two boys and one girl.
Do they engage with your work, I would imagine?
Like, "Sex Education," again, that is about a mother
who's a sex therapist who talks to her teenage son.
Do your kids watch that? And if so, is it
a difficult show for them to watch,
or do they enjoy it? -They're not supposed to.
They promised me that they haven't seen it.
My boys are 12 and 14.
My 26-year-old daughter is allowed to watch it.
But the boys, no.
Although I think they might be lying.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
I mean, if they can find their way to Netflix,
you're probably in a good degree of trouble.
-Yeah, I think you might be right.
And for some reason, both of the seasons that have aired so far,
the very, very first scene is literally worse
than anything that you see -- The first scene
on both first episodes are worse than anything that follows
in any episode. -Did you have to --
Is it true that you banned, I guess it's your boys,
from Instagram -- from following you on Instagram?
-From following me on Instagram, yeah.
They're not allowed to follow me.
'Cause, You know, I post -- I incite erection.
-[ Laughs ] -No, I post penises.
[ Laughter ] I post penises on my Instagram.
And what's a funicular? I'm sorry.
I don't know what a funicular is.
-I'm really glad you asked. A funicular is
like a subway that goes up a hill.
-Oh. -Yeah.
-Alright. -Yeah.
-Okay. Thanks. -By the way, I'm so happy --
I feel like, all our guests, we waste their time.
But the fact that you learned one thing --
[ Laughter ] -I learned one thing.
-Usually, in nonpandemic times, you would come here
and you would leave with a coffee mug, a T-shirt,
maybe even a nice tote. -[ Laughs ]
-That doesn't happen anymore.
We can just give you information.
[ Laughter ] -Great.
-Thanks so much for being here.
It was really delightful talking to you.
-Same. Pleasure. Nice to be here.
-the fourth season of "The Crown"
is streaming on Netflix.