Here are some new photos of Meryl Streep in London, unveiling the poster campaign for her new film, The Iron Lady, in which she plays Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister for the UK. Initially, I was jazzed about the idea of Meryl playing Maggie, but when the first clip of the film was released, I was slightly underwhelmed. Now the first official trailer is out and… is it supposed to be a comedy? Because I chuckled when Thatcher is all “WE’RE GOING TO WAR” and she’s talking about the Falkland Islands. No disrespect to veterans of the Falkland War, but it’s not like Thatcher was dropping into Berlin to take down Hitler. Meryl also did a long interview with The Mail, which you can read here. Here’s the trailer:
What I like about the trailer:
*LOVE Jim Broadbent at Dennis Thatcher. That’s a perfect fit.
*Love Meryl in general, and I think her accent work sounds pretty good (to my American ears).
*Love the “woman’s touches” like talking to her advisors while she’s being sewn into her dress.
*Love that they seem to be showing SOME of the reality of what a controversial and sometimes despised leader Thatcher really was among her own people.
What I dislike:
*The “makeover” scenes feel like they’re straight out of a Kate Hudson movie.
*The political climate was harrowing and difficult (Cold War, IRA, recession, the first Gulf War), and this looks very glossed over.
*The music is weird.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
And the Oscar goes to Viola Davis
Oy Meryl, what the hell are you wearing?!?!
erm…the falklands was actually quite a big deal and was definitely considered a ‘real’ war.
Am I the only one who assumes movies released in Jan are bad? In Jan you get your bad films that everyone knows would never get an Oscar but the director was delusional enough think they would get one. In Feb you get bad horror, thriller and action movies. The first quarter rarely had anything good. So if this movie is being released on Jan 6th, and that tells me it’s bad.
That outfit she is wearing is just ungodly awful. Makes me wanna barf.
@LeeLoo: It’s being released in a couple of US theaters on Dec 30, which means it will qualify for Oscar consideration. I don’t think they’ve wide released it in January because it’s bad, I think they’ve done it so that it’s current and fresh in people’s minds at Oscar voting time.
Seems some hyped Oscar bait movies are coming up short. Like J. Edgar with the so-so reviews and not so good box office. Maybe some pundits and other folks should actually see movies before making them award contenders.
Uhhmm…I thought of “Julia/Julia”… which is NOT a good thing considering the “weight” of the subject matter…so, I’m NOT happy, though I adore Jim Broadbent also…
My impression of Thatcher was colourless so to see relatively vivid makeup on the billboard makes it look Hollywoody. Maybe I am wrong. I was looking at her through the lens of being on the other side of the world.
The trailer does not make me want to rush to see. Maybe DVD.
can’t play the trailer at the moment but being a child of the 80’s and having lived through Thatcher I have very vivid memories. Will be interesting to see if she can pull it off
LOVE IT. She’s terrific as Thatcher.
And, the Falklands was a huge deal. It was very much considered an act of war, and was also very controversial. It was also the result of decades and decades of resentment and pissedoffness due colonization. In addition, Prince Andrew fought in it.
If anyone can pull Thatcher off, Meryl will do it….When was the last time she made a bad movie?
Oh, I forgot about Mama Mia!
She’ll get an Oscar nod for sure
Oh, ok. Less Mrs. Doubtfire but still a bit Julia Child.
I almost forgot that Jim Broadbent was an Oscar awardee, he looks great in it.
I get the music. Thatcher era was defined by new wave music, not sure about the Madness song but yeah, I get it.
@NancyMan shhh, as a Streep/Firth fan, to me Mama Mia doesn’t exist.
Well, if not Meryl then who else? Helen Mirren is already The Queen.
@NaomiCampbellsPhone.
I completely understand. Seeing that ‘movie’ was more traumatic for me than the time my sister told me that our parents occasionally did it.
I shan’t mention it again…
Poster reminds me of Mommie Dearest herself, Faye Dunaway.
I couldn’t access the trailer so I skipped to another site. Now’ I’m back. Not at all impressed by the trailer, the first half reads comedy. Very sloppy cutting and the the music is ridiculous. THEN someone else started editing this sloppy thing about 1:45 in and it feels like a completely different film. Whomever cut the teaser trailer – which was short and brilliant – should have been hired for this mess. That said, I’ll still buy a ticket December 16th. Love Meryl.
This trailer is FANTASTIC!
I am so excited for this! I love Meryl and Thatcher 😀 It looks great and I hope she gets the oscar for this!
I think this film may get some very mixed reviews (Streep great, movie meh), but I can totally see her playing Thatcher. She plays bitches very well (she was the sole reason for watching The Devil Wears Prada) and Thatcher was a bitch on wheels.
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@Gigi: Mirren was so great in “The Queen” that now I can’t see her as anything else.
The trailer is better than I expected, especially in the more serious second half. And Streep’s performance I’m still concerned that it’s going to be a bit of a whitewash. The synopsis I read of the opening where the doddering is overly sentimental, having her imagine the late Denis was still alive. Ugh. The accent is pretty good though.
Just one thing, the IRA influence on the 80s wasn’t glossed over in the trailer. 0:12 shows an explosion, which was undoubtedly the “Brighton Bombing”, where the provos bombed the hotel where delegates to the Conservative (Tory) party conference. She was incredibly lucky to have escaped with her life then. Others weren’t so lucky.
I would also agree that the Falklands was a big feckin’ deal. And its influence still comes into more recent world events – for example Thatcher’s defense of General Pinochet of Chile who she described as a friend of Britain due to his support in the Falklands.
I wonder if they will include Diane Gould’s, a member of the public, questioning of Thatcher on live television over the sinking of The Belgrano. The fact that Gould managed to get one up on her and that the BBC allowed it was a real source of anger for Thatcher. It also put a real chink in her armour and was a pivotal point in her approval ratings.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Diana_Gould
As for the comedy, she did used to come out with sheer bonkers statements: calling a press conference and stumbling out of 10 Downing Street to declare “We have become a grandmother!” Are “we” indeed 😆