Meryl Streep: Thatcher film 'painful'

Los Angeles - Meryl Streep found filming The Iron Lady "very painful".

The 62-year-old actress portrays former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the movie and because it was shot on such a tight budget, the long days of filming were very gruelling.

She said: "It was difficult for me physically because I spend at least 40 percent of the film as an old woman.

Tiny budget

"We were on a tiny budget, we had very long days and there was no rest. Standing for 12 hours at a time was very painful and all I wanted was a great masseur."

Meryl also admitted she was very nervous on her first day of filming and is grateful to her British co-stars for their support.

She said: "I walked into the rehearsal hall and there were 45 of the most wonderful British actors and they'd all done deep homework into the characters they were portraying, so I never felt more like I was from New Jersey than at that moment.

"But they were really generous and gave me credibility and I'm very grateful to them."