Anna Chancellor on My Lady Jane and female representation in Hollywood

Anna Chancellor, an actor whose credits include The Crown, The Hour and Four Weddings and a Funeral, pictured on the red carpet for her new TV show My Lady Jane. Photo / Getty Images

English actor Anna Chancellor burst onto our screens in 1994 as the unforgettable Henrietta, aka Duckface, in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Three decades on and she has become one of the most recognisable faces in the TV and film industry. She talks to Lillie Rohan to discuss her latest role and why it’s important we keep fighting for females in the industry.

“It’s kind of fun to see a woman win, right?” Anna Chancellor says of her latest acting credit, My Lady Jane, a series that rewrites the life of historical figure Jane Grey in a proto-feminist way.

The 59-year-old actor is sitting in her home office. Her curly hair is untamed, her thick black-framed glasses sit perfectly on her face, and she’s energised in a way that immediately makes you want to ask what the secret is to a glass-half-full life.

Before we get the chance, she’s onto her next topic. We quickly learn that’s just who Chancellor is, and perhaps that’s how she’s become such a familiar face in the film and TV industry.

From The Crown, to Pride and Prejudice, The Hour, Pennyworth and the one that will give you a lightbulb moment, Four Weddings and a Funeral, she’s been in plenty of recognisable productions, but it’s her upcoming show that has stolen her heart as the most special yet – mainly due to the female team behind the camera.

Anna Chancellor's most famous role is as Henrietta, aka Duckface, who got jilted at the alter by Hugh Grant's character in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

“I was thrilled that they [the production team] were all women,” she confesses. “I have never known that, I just feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.”

Starring as Jane’s mother, Lady Frances Grey, in the Prime Video show, which is set to be released on June 27, the series was written by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton and Cynthia Hand and produced by Paula McBreen.

“They say things have really changed between men and women, and they say that there’s much more equality and that, but actually, if you view the stats on TV, it’s still not great,” Chancellor says.

Listing the Emerald Fennell-directed film Saltburn as a production she enjoyed, the English star states there was one problem with it: “The main protagonists are still men, even though the movie’s directed by a woman. The stories are still very much driven by men.”

Anna Chancellor stars in the new TV show My Lady Jane.

Chancellor’s not wrong, according to a report released by USC Annenberg and San Diego State this year, 83% of last year’s 250 highest-grossing movies were directed solely by men.

Of that large percentage, only 4% employed at least 10 women in behind-the-scenes roles.

Yes, you read that right, 10. It’s a shocking figure and resulted in the report concluding that Hollywood remains “drastically skewed in favour of men”.

The significance of a mostly female team working on My Lady Jane is one Chancellor believes deserves plenty of praise. “These are women who left their kids in New York to come and work. They did a lot to make this show happen.”

Anna Chancellor's acting credits include a role in The Hour.

As well as a mostly female production team, the Bafta-nominated star says the series is special in another way as it takes a fictional turn rewriting history to give one of the past’s most well-known figures, Jane Grey, the future she never got.

“Some people will say, ‘why do people rewrite history?’ But this is taking such a huge liberty that they’re not even pretending that they’re not doing it.”

Chancellor explains the show is “not exactly a sci-fi” but at the same time, it is. “It will transport, it will transform you. It’ll take you somewhere. Somewhere far away and to a whole other world so that you can get immersed in another world just for a bit. That’s fun, right?”

It’s not the only fun aspect though, her character was also enjoyable to play,

“I didn’t really prepare because it comes naturally,” she chuckles. “I filed my nails. I practise climbing the social ladder.”

Chancellor believes she was chosen to play the role because she shared some similarities with Lady Frances Grey and one major thing she learnt that still makes her laugh is “how to be a scheming b****”.

My Lady Jane premieres in New Zealand on Prime Video on June 27.