'The Iron Lady' Meryl Streep: 'There's no part like Margaret Thatcher'

Meryl Streep has revealed that she had no hesitation in accepting the chance to portray Margaret Thatcher on the silver screen after seeing the script for The Iron Lady

Streep plays the former British prime minister in the new film directed by Mamma Mia!'s Phyllida Lloyd.

"There is no part like this because there's no woman like this. I'm going to turn that down because I don't like her politics? My God," Streep told USA Today.

"Part of what interested me about this whole thing was seeing why we are so uncomfortable on a certain level with women leaders and with their male partners feeling diminished. It's an interesting thing for us to contemplate."

The Oscar-winning actress also discussed how she prepared to play the controversial world leader.

"You approach each one as a person. They're all pretty much the same size - my size," she said. "I knew I'd have to do a lot of research. We wanted to get the facts as right as we possibly could.

"But at the same time, this is a film coming from her own mind, her memory. It's a look back. It's random and not chronological. We remember things that worry us and the glory days."

Earlier in the month, Streep defended her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady when she received criticism from some former Tory politicians.

Watch an exclusive Digital Spy featurette of The Iron Lady below: