Channel 5 "The Movie Chart Show" Mad Cows Interview - 27 October 1999


Gail Porter: Anna Friel is the actress in the film Mad Cows out this month and we spoke to her about her movies and her breasts - well you've got to haven't you !!

(Film clip)
GP: In Mad Cows, Anna Friel plays Maddy, an Australian single mother in London, who is on the run from the police. This film fulfils a career goal she's had since her days on Brookside. It's the first time her name has come top of the bill.

Anna: I've watched it now and I've thought 'Yeah, what shall I do for it'. My training was working on a television soap for 2 years being in front of a camera every day, and then the next step was gradually building it up and being part of an ensemble so, erm, the risk wasn't too big if I did make a mistake. So I didn't know what I could do and what I couldn’t at that time. I thought I can, I can carry a film now. I'm ready for this.

GP: Mad Cows is not the only comedy about a couple to be set in London this year. This film is nothing like Notting Hill.

Anna: It's different 'cos it's not got Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in it - it's got Anna Friel and Greg Wise ! It's much more bizarre. It's more of a Carry On this. It's not to be taken too seriously. It's fun !

GP: And in true Carry On style, the Anna Friel in Mad Cows puts Barbara Windsor's bust to shame.

Anna: It was fantastic. It was heavy - the breasts were. We had 3 different size of, erm, what they use for implants. They're silicone implants that feel a bit like chicken breasts. You kind of put inside your bra on top of your natural breasts and they kinda push up. And then having a baby that was quite heavy. By the end of it I was kinda all like this (bends over hunching shoulders). But it was good, it was fun having big breasts. I was quite shocked watching it.

GP: The time spent filming with the baby left Anna feeling rather broody.

Anna: Well it did - I love children and I was like "Oh God, I want to take them home !". I want children but also playing a single mother without a father reinforced I don't want a child until I've got a man. Unless you never find a man and then you go to the sperm bank and get the best genes possible !!