Meryl Streep’s upcoming film on Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, is already creating controversy before its release in January. It “has drawn an angry response from friends over its portrayal of the former prime minister as a lonely figure sliding into dementia. In the opening scenes, a frail Lady Thatcher is seen shuffling into a corner shop to buy a pint of milk and expressing shock at 21st-century prices.”
The Telegraph provides other examples of the uproar concerning the film:
Former colleagues have distanced themselves from the film, which is scheduled for release on Jan 6 and is expected to garner a 17th Oscar nomination for Streep.
Lord Bell, who as Tim Bell was a key PR adviser to the Prime Minister throughout the 1980s, said: “I can’t be bothered to sensationalise this rubbish.
“I can’t see the point of this film. Its only value is to make some money for Meryl Streep and whoever wrote it. I have no interest in seeing it. I don’t need a film to remind me of my experiences of her. It is a non-event.
“It won’t make any difference to her place in history of the fact of what she did.”
Friends and family have dismissed the drama as a “Left-wing fantasy”, although it portrays Lady Thatcher as a strong leader during the Falklands conflict, the miners’ strike and other crises.
Releasing the film during her lifetime is an insult, they have claimed. One friend of Lady Thatcher said she would not watch the film. “She has not seen it. She never watches anything about herself in any case.”
The rest of the article can be found here, while here is the recently released trailer for the film.
No one familiar with the liberal politics of Hollywood will be surprised that a movie about a conservative political icon portrays her in a negative light and is replete with artistic license - a polite term for intentional and malicious deception. As others have noted, this film confirms what we already know about Meryl Streep and her liberal Hollywood colleagues and offers very little on the subject of the former Prime Minister.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSara Horowitz at the Atlantic is horrified that the show portrays Thatcher as anything other than a monster. For some reason the link to the article isn't on their homepage anymore nor under her list of articles.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, think it might have been Richard Lawson's article.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMeryl "I'm not going to be ignored" Streep should really be ignored in this case ...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNow I think you're ignoring Glenn Close here which could be very dangerous
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLooks like the Atlantic removed the 'review'. More like a rant. Here's a link to a comment that I had 'liked' in the Disqus thread - link fails now:
External Link
And the title was:
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse* Who Is Meryl Streep's Margaret Thatcher For, Exactly?
The fact Margaret Thatcher was never consulted for the movie to verify facts shows it is trash.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLord Bell is incorrect. The main purpose of the movie has nothing to do with finance, and it would help if he had the nerve to say so. And what about that new J. Edgar Hoover movie - anyone have a guess what the motives are for making that one?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseStreep hasn't done anything worthwhile since "Sophie's Choice".
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