42 replies to this topic

[papeetepatrick]

http://www.slashfilm...garet-thatcher/

This is the most amusingly predictable thing I've seen in awhile.  What next?  Mary Kay LeTourneau?  Nah, gonna be too old for that one.  Maybe Beyonce can do it.

[dirac]

Thanks for posting, Patrick. Like her or not, Streep doesn't do sensationalism for its own sake.  (She did play an accused murderer in A Cry in the Dark, in the most unshowy manner possible.)  Biopics will continue to be made and actors will continue to star in them.  Streep is a good choice for Thatcher, although Emma Thompson also springs to mind, but the current director is Phyllida Lloyd, who worked with Streep on Mamma Mia! Note that Streep hasn't signed on the dotted line just yet.  Jim Broadbent is supposed to play Denis. Can't wait for that. But of course the key question is: who will play Norman Tebbit? John Nott? If Peter Morgan is writing the screenplay, will he work in a flash-forward to Michael Sheen as Tony Blair?

Quote

The movie is set during the 17 days that preceded the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the ensuing 10-week war. As the storm brewed, Ms Thatcher's popularity was on the wane. Britain's triumph altered the public perception of her, and she won the 1983 election with a parliamentary majority of 144 – the most comprehensive of her election victories. However, it was the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, with the loss of 368 lives, that marked the most controversial moment of her career.

[Mashinka]

Quote

The movie is set during the 17 days that preceded the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the ensuing 10-week war. As the storm brewed, Ms Thatcher's popularity was on the wane. Britain's triumph altered the public perception of her, and she won the 1983 election with a parliamentary majority of 144 – the most comprehensive of her election victories. However, it was the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, with the loss of 368 lives, that marked the most controversial moment of her career.

The conflict with Argentina wasn't the most controversial moment of MT's career by any means.  It followed an invasion of British territory, islands peopled entirely by British nationals, even the far left opposition of the time led by Michael Foot supported retaliation against the aggressors.  Few if any opposed this; the actual nadir of her career was the Poll Tax riots and led to her eventual overthrow.

As has been pointed out in the comments attached to that link, Thatcher was and is loathed by millions of UK citizens who saw their livelihoods destroyed by Thatcher's destruction of British industry, moving the country from manufacturing output to service industries.  Miners, steel workers, ship builders, saw their traditional jobs disappear forever leaving whole swathes of the country mired in long-term unemployment and hopelessness, with the only opportunities on offer stacking supermarket shelves at the minimum wage.  Thatcher also brought in banking deregulation which led to the current UK financial crisis with Britain now in hock to China.  Put simply she was brilliant at foreign policy but useless at home affairs.

If this film goes ahead it will be appalling timing as Argentina has started kicking off about the Falklands yet again, but I really can’t see why anyone would want to make such a film in her lifetime.  Wait till she’s no longer with us and then dish up the truth.

[dirac]

Argentina's  funny that way, I guess.

There's no reason to think the movie will be hostile, at least on the evidence presented here.  I agree that the selection of the Falklands War as the subject was probably the safest aspect of the Thatcher regime to dramatize, especially if you want to make her look good along with the unavoidable negatives.

[dirac]

It's all set - Streep is invading the Falklands.

Quote

.........Streep has a phalanx of Brit thespians in supporting roles. Notably, Jim Broadbent stars as Thatcher's husband Denis; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Anthony Head is Geoffrey Howe, a key Cabinet colleague of Thatcher's. Streep also reunites with her "Mamma Mia" director Phyllida Lloyd for the film, but I'm assuming the tone and look of the biopic will be drastically different!

With Broadbent and Head in support, this could be fun.  I hope Phyllida Lloyd has learned something about moviemaking since Mamma Mia, good dumb fun though it was.

[Mashinka]

A clip from the film in today's Guardian with unsurprising readers' comments at the end. I must say Streep is very impressive in the way she has picked up on Thatcher's mannerisms.

http://www.guardian....hatcher-trailer

[dirac]

Thanks, Mashinka. I quite enjoyed some of those posts in the comments section. "Bulldog chewing a wasp."  

[Anthony_NYC]

Streep has always had her famous gift for accents and mimicry and a kind of sculptural approach to creating a character. Way back when I used to find this impressive, almost incredible, but somehow not quite engaging. But nowadays I find her to be one of the most consistently entertaining actors in movies, and just about the only one who'll get me to go to a film based solely on her being in it. This brief preview already looks promising. IMDB gives a December 16 U.S. release date. I can't wait!

[dirac]

She's a more relaxed presence these days. Maybe all the fluffy light comedies she's been playing in have helped. I liked "It's Complicated" much better than I thought I would. I would still like to see her in something more substantial and it would be nice if this biopic is it.

[cubanmiamiboy]

She's always engaging, even when the film is not.  I'm on the same boat of those who would go see the film just because she's on it.  

[Quiggin]

It'd be great if Streep would take a SCTV improvision approach and slip back and forth between Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher – also Karen Blixen.

Who played Rupert Murdoch? and more importantly, who is going to play "steel lady" Rebekah Brooks in the sequel?

[leonid]

dirac, on 08 July 2011 - 11:20 AM, said:

Thanks, Mashinka. I quite enjoyed some of those posts in the comments section. "Bulldog chewing a wasp."  

Mashinka, you are right to enjoy the posts in the comments section as they reveal the long held distress engendered by Margaret Thatcher's government and the continuing disenchantment with subsequent UK governments.

I have never before heard the expression, "Bulldog chewing a wasp", but I do however get the picture.

[sandik]

Mashinka, on 08 July 2011 - 06:13 AM, said:

A clip from the film in today's Guardian with unsurprising readers' comments at the end. I must say Streep is very impressive in the way she has picked up on Thatcher's mannerisms.

Very scary!

[dirac]

Quiggin, on 09 July 2011 - 07:12 PM, said:

Who played Rupert Murdoch? and more importantly, who is going to play "steel lady" Rebekah Brooks in the sequel?

If Nicole Kidman would consider going back to her original hair the role of Brooks is one she could knock out of the park.

[Anthony_NYC]

Quiggin, on 09 July 2011 - 07:12 PM, said:

It'd be great if Streep would take a SCTV improvision approach and slip back and forth between Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher – also Karen Blixen.

Great idea. Maybe a scene in which Streep makes Broadbent breakfast, a la Woman of the Year:

The Iron Chef Lady

Paul/Denis: Darling, don't you think perhaps you're overdoing it with the chopped onions?

Julia/Margaret (continuing her merciless destruction of the bulbs with an enormous  butcher's knife): Certainly not! I may be persuaded to forgo the beans; the haggis, however, is absolutely non-negotiable.