The actor — famed for his Bafta-nominated portrayal of the respectful flunky in ITV1’s period drama — hit the roof in a spat over his hatred of Lady Thatcher.
NHS consultant Roberta Knighton told him Twitter comments he posted about the ex-Tory PM were “beneath” him.
Fuming Coyle, 49, hit back: “Hard to know how to respond to that... but go f*** yourself feels about right.”
He then said: “You have no idea what is beneath me... p.s. go f*** yourself x”. Then he blocked her from viewing his account.
The US star, 62, quipped that she was waiting for the chance to get Firth alone at the film bash after he gallantly picked up her Jimmy Choo stiletto after it fell off when she climbed the stairs to collect her award for Best Actress.
She joked later backstage: 'Livia Firth better not stand at the top of the stairs when I'm there.'
Streep saw off competition from from Berenice Bejo, Michelle Williams, Tilda Swinton and Viola Davis to be named Best Actress for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Firth chivalrously got down on one knee to place Streep's shoe on the floor so she could put it back on just before delivering her acceptance speech.
Streep gave him a kiss on the lips as thanks.
Afterwards, an teary-eyed Streep revealed she had forgotten to thank J Roy Helland, her make-up and hair assistant, in her acceptance speech.
She said: 'I forgot to say his name, and all because of my f***ing shoe.'
Q. Meryl, you said earlier that you were wearing a brand of shoes favored by Margaret Thatcher.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think wearing those shoes brought you some good luck? And also, Mrs. Thatcher liked a little whiskey at night. Are you going to have a couple tonight to celebrate?
A. I am going to start with a couple. And then we will see if I can walk on the Ferragamos. Yes. Mrs. Thatcher wore those shoes. Yes, thank you.
Q. In researching your role, did you have a chance to meet Margaret Thatcher?
A. No, I haven't. Really, she has retired from public life almost entirely now in the last two years. So, no, I didn't. But I studied her, and I studied, you know, there's so much archival footage. And then the challenge was to imagine her present life, and that was completely an active imagination on Abi Morgan, the writer's part, and my part, but there was a lot of freedom in that, but also responsibility to a real person and to history.
So, it was — it was really very, very satisfying as an actor, as an artist, to make a film that starts out about Margaret Thatcher and ends up being really about all of us. So, that's all I'll say about that.
It was made from old plastic bottles - that’s what Colin Firth’s wife Livia told me.She organised eco-friendly dresses and suits (Kenneth Branagh wore one) for the Oscar red carpet, including the dress chosen by Streep’s daughters for the ceremony.
And she duly picked up the award for her brilliant portrait of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Streep and her representatives refused to divulge the provenance of the dress dumped by the Gummer girls (they use the name of their dad Don Gummer, who’s been wed to Meryl since 1978).
Meryl Streep won the Oscar for lead actress Sunday at the 84th Academy Awards, for her role playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
Though the film itself was greeted with mixed reviews, Streep's performance received universal acclaim. In the film, Streep portrays Thatcher throughout her life and career, beginning in her later years and looking back.
This was Streep's third Oscar for lead actress, but her first since "Sophie's Choice" in 1982. Additionally, it was her 17th overall nomination.
LONDON (AP) — It's spry versus spy as frothy silent movie "The Artist" and moody thriller "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" lead the race for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars.
"The Artist" received 12 nominations and "Tinker Tailor" 11, with each film up for best picture and director, and best actor nominations for leading men Jean Dujardin and Gary Oldman.
The other best-film nominees, announced at a ceremony Tuesday by actors Daniel Radcliffe and Holliday Grainger, were "The Descendants," ''Drive" and "The Help."
In a diverse field not dominated by any single film, there are also multiple nominations for "Hugo," ''My Week With Marilyn," ''The Iron Lady" and "The Help."
The nominations are another feather in the cap of "The Artist," a black and white French film about a silent screen star's fall with the rise of talkies.
And they are a boost for "Tinker Tailor," an atmospheric adaptation of John le Carre's espionage classic that has received rave reviews but has so far been snubbed during the U.S. awards season.
"Tinker Tailor" producer Tim Bevan said the film was a "particularly British cultural phenomenon. It's great that it's being recognized at the BAFTAs but that it hasn't at the Golden Globes is not surprising."
"'The Artist' seems to be the film with the momentum, and rightly so," he said. "It's been an OK year but not a brilliant year for movies, and 'The Artist' defines what cinema should be. It's brave, different, it's got a great shot."
The best actor contest pits Oldman and Dujardin against Brad Pitt for "Moneyball," George Clooney for "The Descendants" and Michael Fassbender for "Shame."
The best actress category includes two performers playing real-life icons — Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroein "My Week With Marilyn" and Meryl Streep as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
The other nominees are Berenice Bejo for "The Artist," Tilda Swinton for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and Viola Davis for "The Help."
The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony at London's Royal Opera House on Feb. 12. They are considered an important indicator of prospects at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles two weeks later.
In recent years, the awards, known as BAFTAs, have helped small British films gain momentum for Hollywood success.
In 2010, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" won seven BAFTAs, including best film; it went on to take eight Oscars. Last year "The King's Speech" won seven BAFTAs and four Oscars, including best picture.
"My Week With Marilyn," the story of the movie legend's time shooting an ill-starred comedy in England, received six BAFTA nominations, including a supporting-actor nod for Kenneth Branagh, who plays Laurence Olivier.
He is up against Christopher Plummer for "Beginners," Jim Broadbent for "The Iron Lady," Jonah Hill for "Moneyball" and Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Ides of March."
The supporting actress category features Carey Mulligan for "Drive," Jessica Chastain for "The Help," Judi Dench for "My Week With Marilyn," Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids" and Olivia Spencer for "The Help."
The multinational best-director contest pits Denmark's Nicholas Winding Refn, for the turbocharged "Drive," against France's Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Sweden's Tomas Alfredson for "Tinker Tailor," Britain's Lynne Ramsay for "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and Martin Scorsese of the United States for "Hugo."
The best British film category contains "My Week With Marilyn," racing documentary "Senna," sex-addiction drama "Shame," family tragedy "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
Steven Spielberg's equine adventure "War Horse" was overlooked in the major categories but gained five nominations including cinematography, visual effects and music.
Golden Globes: Downton Abbey proves Global phenomenon
Ricky Gervais was on hosting duties for the Golden Globes; below, Meryl Streep collects her award for best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Pictures: Getty
By Claire Smith Published on Tuesday 17 January 2012 02:12
DOWNTON Abbey’s success at the Golden Globes will further bolster the success of ITV and help promote British-made programmes around the world, industry sources said last night.
The period drama, which follows the lives and relationships of the family and servants of the Earl of Grantham’s household, won a Golden Globe for best mini series at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
The show has been screened in 200 countries, including the US, Spain and Australia, and DVD sales are worth millions of pounds. The programme’s success has already boosted ITV’s advertising profits which tripled last year – in what has been called the “Downton Bounce”.
Downton Abbey’s creator Julian Fellowes said: “How fabulous this is. The whole Downton adventure has been an extraordinary one. Like spotting a promising child and waking up to find they’ve have won the Olympics – and that’s what we’ve lived through.
“Winning a Golden Globe is thrilling and a great honour. We couldn’t be more delighted.”
Margaret Scott, business and production executive for Shed Production Scotland, said the success of Downton Abbey was good news for British television. She said: “I think there has always been an aptitude for making good, high-quality costume dramas in the UK, although they did tend to be associated with BBC rather than ITV.
“But it is fantastic that a UK drama has been given this sort of award and hopefully it will create opportunities for us all.”
Actress Elizabeth McGovern, who plays the Countess of Grantham, said the success of the show in the US was a thrill.
“It’s an escape into a world that is simpler, that is beautiful, that is full of drama and intrigue and humour.”
McGovern was beaten to the best TV actress award by Titanic star Kate Winslet for her performance in HBO’s Mildred Pierce, while Idris Elba beat Downton’s Hugh Bonneville, scooping the best actor award for his role in BBC1 crime drama Luther.
Tilda Swinton lost out for the third year running, after being nominated for We Need to Talk About Kevin. The award for best actress went to multi-award winner Meryl Streep, for her portrayal of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. In her acceptance speech Streep thanked “‘everybody in England that let me come and trample over their history”.
Comedian Ricky Gervais presented the award for the third year in succession, despite criticism over his irreverent comments about some of Hollywood’s biggest stars last year.
He said: “The Globes are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem. The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton. Bit louder, bit trashier, bit drunker, and more easily bought.”
A big winner was The Artist, a film celebrating the art of silent movies. Michel Hazanavicius’s tale of 1920s Hollywood picked up three awards, including best film (muscial or comedy) and best actor (musical or comedy) for its star Jean Dujardin. It is now tipped to pick up the Oscar next month for best picture.
The main competition is said to come from The Descendants, which won best film (drama) and also picked up a best actor award for George Clooney.
Other winners were Michelle Williams, who was named best actress (comedy or musical) for her role in My Week with Marilyn; The Adventures of Tintin, which won the best animated feature category, and the Iranian drama A Separation, which won the award for best foreign language film.
Martin Scorsese won best director for his 3D fantasy Hugo and Woody Allen took the best screenplay prize for Midnight in Paris.
THE NIGHT’S BIG WINNERS
Best film (drama): The Descendants
Best film (comedy or musical): The Artist
Best actor (drama): George Clooney – The Descendants
Best actress (comedy or musical): Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Best actress (drama): Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Best actress (comedy or musical): Michelle Williams – My week with Marilyn
Best actor (mini series): Idris Elba – Luther
Best actress (mini series): Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce
Best television mini series: Downton Abbey
Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer – Beginners.
Best supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help.
Foreign Language: A Separation.
Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin.
Screenplay: Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris.
Original Score: Ludovic Bource – The Artist.
Original Song: Masterpiece (music & lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry) – W.E.
The Christmas season is over, and 2012 is now well in play. Some films did well over the holiday period, with many that we mentioned in our last post remaining at the top of the Box Office. This weekend there are a couple of great films being released, including action thriller Contraband, starring Kate Beckinsale and coming-of-age drama Albatross, as well as a few others that are expanding to more theaters. Carry on reading to find out what British movies and actors you can see on the big screen over the next seven days, and where you will be able to see them.
The big release this week is Contraband, which features British actress Kate Beckinsale in Baltasar Kormákur‘s action thriller, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The film is a remake of the Icelandic 2009 film ReykjavÃk-Rotterdam which Kormákur starred in, and follows a former smuggler who heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills to protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord. The film will be released on Friday (13th January) and you can see if it is showing in a theater near you here.
British coming-of-age comedy drama, Albatross, gets a limited release from Friday (13th January) too. The film stars Jessica Brown Findlay (TV’s Downton Abbey) as 17-year-old Emelia Conan-Doyle, the heir to the legacy of Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Emelia is an aspiring writer who hopes to follow in the literary footsteps of her grandfather, whilst also working at a seaside hotel on the south coast of England, owned by writers-blocked Jonathan (Sebastian Koch – Unknown), his wife Joa (Julia Ormond – My Week with Marilyn) and their daughter, Beth (Felicity Jones – Like Crazy). Beth and Emelia’s friendship is soon threatened, however, when Emelia and Beth’s father begin an affair.
Starring a number of other Brits including Peter Vaughan, Harry Treadaway, and Thomas Brodie Sangster, you can read our review here and and see if Albatross’ Limited release is showing near you here. If you don’t fancy getting off your sofa this weekend, you may also want to check the IFC films On-Demand section on your cable service , as it should also be available to rent.
Expanding its release this week is The Iron Lady, which opened with a limited release for its Oscar qualifying run on 30th December. The film looks at the life of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (played by Meryl Streep) in London in the 1980′s. It shows how she came from nowhere, smashing through the barriers of gender and class to make her voice heard in a male dominated world. It also stars British actors Jim Broadbent, Anthony Head, Richard E. Grant, and Olivia Colman. Averaging at $35,275 per theater in five theaters last weekend, The Iron Lady has already grossed $520,669, and will be released officially and nationwide on Friday (13th January). You can see where this film is showing here.
We Need to Talk About Kevin also expands its release over New York, LA and Encino this coming week. Starring British actress Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia), the film won best movie at the recent London Film Festival and has been traveling across the US for the past couple of months.
Adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name, written by American author Lionel Shriver, Swinton plays the character of Eva Khatchadouria, the mother of a troubled teenage boy (Ezra Miller) who embarks on a high-school killing spree. The story is told from the perspective of Eva, seeing her recount the events in her son’s life as she attempts to deal with her grief and feelings of guilt by writing to her estranged husband (Jon C. Reilly).
We Need To Talk About Kevin is expanding to more and more cities over the coming weeks. You can see if this movie is coming to a theater near you here and see what fellow BritScene writer Daniel thought of the tough subject matter and Tilda Swinton’s performance with his review.
With its Brit packed cast of Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt, the film will continue to show nationwide. You can see if it is coming to a theater near you here (although it is now playing all across the country) and see what our take on this much talked espionage thriller is, with our review.
Still at top of box office is a number of films that we mentioned in our last post, the first of these being the fourth instalment to the popular action franchise, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which is number 2 in the Box Office charts. Making another $19.9M this weekend, the film’s overall gross is close to reaching $170M. Starring British actor Simon Pegg in one of the main roles, the film follows IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) who is carrying out an operation in Moscow when a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, leading the US government to initiate a black operation known as “ghost protocol”. Disavowing the entire Impossible Mission Force, Hunt must now go undercover with his new rogue team to clear their organization’s name. The film will continue to show nationwide and you can watch a clip featuring Simon Pegg’s nerdy IT character below.
David Fincher‘s The Girl With Dragon Tattoo is still holding on at number 4 in the Box Office, and after making $11.4M this weekend, the film’s overall gross has nearly reached $77M. However, in relation to the films $90M production costs, it hasn’t done as well as was hoped. This is probably because the film wasn’t really fitting for its Christmas release, though it seems to be getting good word of mouth and with not a lot of R-rated competition out there at the moment , it will hopefully continue to remain in theaters through award season. Despite not quite meeting box office expectations the sequels for this English adaptation of Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium trilogy have been confirmed, which I think is great news, having loved this movie (read my review here).
The film stars British actor Daniel Craig as investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who is asked to help uncover the truth about a woman who has been missing for forty years. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own dysfunctional family. This is where Blomkvist meets Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a young female hacker, as we start to discover the disturbing truth about her past as well. The film will continue to show nationwide and you can watch the 8 minute long trailer for this first novel adaptation below:
Stephen Spielberg’s war time drama War Horse is at number 6 in the charts, having grossed $8.7M this past weekend and $57M overall. The film follows the story of a young boy, Albert, played by Jeremy Irvine (TV’s Life Bites), and his horse, Joey. Despite being too young to enlist in to the cavalry, Albert heads to France when his horse is sold and sent into the trenches of War. Alongside Irvine is fellow Brits Tom Hiddleston (Thor) as Captain Nichols, Benedict Cumberbatch (TV’s Sherlock) as Major Stewart, with David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Emily Watson (Oranges & Sunshine), Johnny Harris (London to Brighton) and Peter Mullan (Tyrannosaur). The film will continue to show nationwide, you can watch the trailer below and read our review here.
Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin is then at number 8 in the charts, making $6.7M this past weekend and $62M overall. Despite being a family movie, getting a Christmas release and great reviews, the film does not seem to have captured the imagination of an American audience and results are considered a little disappointing (although internationally the numbers has been huge!).
The film is the first installment in a planned trilogy of computer-animated motion-capture adaptations of George Remi’s series of comic strips, which follows British actor Jamie Bell in the motion captured role of Tintin, as he discovers directions to a sunken ship and sets off on his first adventure, a treasure hunt. Directed by Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson, the actors in this movie hold many more big British names too, including the talents of Daniel Craig (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Andy Serkis (The Hobbit), Simon Pegg (Paul), Nick Frost (Attack The Block), and Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor). The film will continue to show nationwide and you can find out if we think it is worth watching with our review.
Continuing to do well, is Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows which, after a month of release, is still in the bronze medal position at the Box Office. Taking another $13.7M this weekend, the film’s overall grossing has now reached $157M and will continue to be shown nationwide. It follows Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and his side kick, Dr Watson (Jude Law) who reunite and team up with mysterious gypsy Sim, played by Noomi Rapace (The Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) to bring down the evil Professor Moriarty, played by Jared Harris (Mad Men).
This was another movie I was lucky enough to catch over the holiday period. Filled with brilliant action and great performances, I highly recommend heading out to see it if you have not already. Take a look at the trailer below and to find out more about what I thought of Guy Ritchie’s take on the classic detective stories, check out my review.
Tom's MySpace page photos were just a tad embarrassing. 72 Photos »
Tom Hardy attended the European premiere of The Iron Lady at The BFI Southbank today in London.
The actor looked dashing at the event. You can next see the 34-year-old actor, playing opposite Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine in This Means War, which is being released in theaters on February 17, 2012.
The actor recently urged his fans to donate to a homeless charity to save it from closure. The Bronson star is a patron of FLACK Cambridge, which helps the homeless, but the organization will fold unless it raises $70,000 by Thursday.
Hardy, who has previously suffered addiction issues, has set up an online fundraising page, and he’s calling on his followers to boost the cause. In an accompanying post, he writes, “I am appealing to you on their behalf to donate just $3 each… to help FLACK keep on doing its vital, inspiring work with homeless people. I’ve been supporting FLACK since it first started and now I’m asking you to help me to help them.”
Meryl Streep at the London premiere of The Iron Lady. Picture: Stuart Wilson / Source: Getty Images
MERYL Streep took to a specially-laid blue carpet for the European premiere of The Iron Lady, the biopic of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which could win her an Oscar.
Streep braved the drizzle to walk up the carpet - matching Thatcher's trademark blue outfits and her Conservative party's traditional colour - at the BFI Southbank in central London last night.
Her performance as the grocer's daughter who changed the face of Britain has earned her a Golden Globe nomination, putting her in line to win the third Oscar of her career next month.
While Streep's acting has won acclaim, today's early reviews were mixed.
Times reviewer Kate Muir gave the film three stars out of five, calling it a "performance of great depth that is condemned to stay in the shallow end."
Muir criticised the film's "emphasis on feminism over politics" which left the Thatcher years "almost unrecognisable."
The Daily Mail awarded only two stars, running the headline: "An Oscar prospect, yes... but a great film? No! No! No!", echoing one of Thatcher's most famous speeches.
Streep downplayed the talk of another Academy Award, focusing instead on the challenge of playing the former British premier from the start of her political career to an old age troubled by dementia.
"She was someone with a big ambition and who made an enormous mark on her time. She was arguably the strongest and the only female leader in the Western world at her time, so she broke ground," Streep told reporters as she arrived for the premiere.
"But beyond that, it was an opportunity to play someone at the waning of her life... and that interested me too because there aren't very many films that pay attention to older ladies."
The film has already opened in Australia and the United States, but its premiere at a venue along the Thames from the Houses of Parliament, which Thatcher dominated from 1979 to 1990, has special resonance.
Few of Thatcher's cabinet colleagues or rivals have seen the film, which only opens in Britain tomorrow, yet many who have say Streep has captured the essence of the woman whose legacy is still the subject of intense debate.
Film critics have pointed to Streep's bouffant hair and clothes in the role as near-perfect, and the distinctive voice which Thatcher worked so hard to perfect booms throughout the film.
Streep confessed she knew little about Thatcher's policies before accepting the role but defended the decision to make a film about a woman who remains a divisive figure in Britain.
"That was part of what made it interesting, because people tended to look at her either as the saviour or the destroyer of the UK. And at this point in time the feelings are still as vehement it seems to me," she said at the premiere.
Director Phyllida Lloyd - the woman behind the Abba smash hit Mamma Mia! also starring Streep - starts the action in the present day, with an elderly Thatcher clearing out her late husband Denis's clothes.
The ghost of Denis, played by Jim Broadbent, himself an Oscar-winner in 2002, is ever present as his wife looks back on her career as she rises from modest beginnings to become Britain's first and still only woman premier.
Thatcher took over a country whose economy was sorely in need of modernisation, yet the often ruthless way she achieved her goals continues to divide opinion, as does the war over the Falklands.
Yet Streep also shows Thatcher's undoubted toughness as she brushes off the IRA's attempt to kill her in the bombing of a Brighton hotel in 1984.
Some critics say it brushes over key issues such as her bitter dispute with the coal miners, which gripped Britain in the mid-1980s, and some have argued it is insensitive to portray her in such a way while she is still alive.
Lloyd revealed yesterday that Thatcher's family had turned down an invitation to a public screening of the film.
"We did make contact with the family some time ago to tell them what we were trying to do but they perhaps quite understandably have sort of stepped back from the whole thing.
"I can quite understand them not wanting to see it in the public gaze so we are not actually sure whether they have seen it or not."
HER bookshelf must be creaking under the weight of the awards she has won but Meryl Streep is still terrified of ending up a failure.
The Iron Lady star has bagged two Oscars, seven Golden Globes, two Emmys, a Bafta, a Tony Award and five Grammy nominations. But the 62-year-old says she’s driven by the fear that she’s not up to scratch. “I think about failure. Absolutely, day to day and moment to moment,” she admits. “It is there waiting for you.”
And though she has always been a more respected actress than mega star, it seems she isn’t averse to a little diva-like behaviour.
“Sometimes just one thing that goes wrong can send you into your trailer, when one really cute idea you have is shot down or doesn’t work. It’s a terrible feeling but that’s acting.”
However, she puts in the hard graft to ensure success. For her latest role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, released this Friday, she locked herself in her house for a week to research the former Prime Minister. “I sort of went to jail, shut myself up and did all the cramming I could,” she says.
Jim Broadbent, who plays husband Denis, calls Streep’s performance “extraordinary”.
But despite her stellar reputation not everything Streep touches turns to critical gold. The smash hit musical Mamma Mia! became the UK’s highest grossing film in history on its release in 2008 but was described by critics as “shallow,” “a shambles” and “like drunken karaoke”.
Meryl Streep says Jim Broadbent can bring humour to even the most serious of roles
Meryl Streep has lavished praise on her co-star in The Iron Lady, Jim Broadbent.
The veteran British actor plays Denis Thatcher in the biopic about Britain’s first female prime minister.
Meryl said: “Jim Broadbent is so deeply funny as an actor, even in the most serious roles.
“It’s a quality of tender humanity that’s just very touching.”
But the Oscar-winning actress admitted that walking onto the film’s male dominated set for the first time was an intimidating experience.
“For me as an actor, just walking in to the first day of rehearsal was incredibly daunting, because there were all these wonderful British actors, and I think there were about 40 or 45 of them and I was the only woman in the room,” she said.
“And I sort of had the feeling Margaret Thatcher must have had when she walked into the Conservative Party.”
Meryl Street as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady
She is firmly a part of Hollywood's liberal elite, who describes herself as part of "the Left", but Meryl Streep has confessed developing a strong admiration for Margaret Thatcher after playing her in a film.
Streep – who is in the running for her third Oscar for her role in The Iron Lady – said playing the role had given her a greater respect for a woman who succeeded in a male-dominated world.
"I was aware of her very early on and, even though her policies were not popular, to say the least, in my circles, people were kind of thrilled that a woman had become leader," she told the Radio Times.
"When I was in college the professions open to women were so few – there were very few women that went to law school, no one dreamed of being a corporate head, it was out of the question.
"You could, perhaps, become leader of a company, maybe if they made make-up. You could be editor of a magazine but only if it was a woman's magazine ... that's the world that Margaret Thatcher entered and then rose right to the very top and it's extraordinary."
Streep is active in the campaign to build a National Women's History Museum in Washington and at a recent fundraiser quoted Thatcher: "If you want something spoken about, ask a man. If you want it done, ask a woman".
Playing the former prime minister had made her respect what Thatcher achieved against the odds, she said. "The more I learned, the more my view of her changed. Wherever you stand on her policies, and many people didn't like her, the scale of her influence and the fact that she got things done was extraordinary," she said. "And the mental, physical, spiritual energy that it took to live every one of those days as head of the government was phenomenal. It's really humbling to consider that she was at 10 Downing Street for ten-and-a-half years. I admire that achievement. I stand in awe of it, even though I didn't agree with a lot of her policies."
Streep, 62, plays the politician over a 40-year span, showing her rise in a film that has been criticised for portraying Thatcher in part of the film as a frail elderly woman suffering from dementia, with former Conservative party chairman Lord Tebbit calling her performance "half-hysterical, over-emotional".
But Streep said she was interested in Thatcher's later years and "the diminishment of power, the denouement of a big life".
Writer Abi Morgan had imagined the final scenes with Thatcher beset with dementia and deeply troubled by her husband Denis Thatcher's death, and based the depiction on their daughter, Carol Thatcher's book A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl: a Memoir and speaking to those that knew her.
If Thatcher, now 86, saw the film, directed by Mamma Mia!'s Phyllida Lloyd, Streep said she hoped she would see it was created with "respect".
"I doubt very much that she will ever see the film but if she does I hope that she would see in it an empathetic attempt to understand the size of what her life was, her place in history, what she did and also the cost, the human cost that we ask our leaders to pay," she said. "I don't think we have given her a pass on anything but I hope that she would see that the film is made with respect."
Streep said capturing her voice and mannerisms had been key to succeeding in the role. "There were also things like how she held herself, how she stood and how she sat, how she crossed her legs and what jewellery she wore, how she set her head when she was making a point – all of those things were important. And they were specific to her, so I did try to capture that to a certain degree because it had a lot to do with how people reacted to her. It was her armour."
Streep, who has won two Oscars and been nominated for a record 16 awards, said, like Thatcher, she had studied to change her voice for the role. "When she became leader of the Conservative party, she studied how to produce her voice differently to sustain a certain amount of public speaking – to deepen her voice, enrich it and support it with breath. So I had to get the two voices, the one that she began with, and the one that came later when she became leader."
The film also stars Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher, Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe, Richard E Grant as Michael Heseltine and Olivia Colman as Carol Thatcher.
"That was really something. I walked into the rehearsals and there were maybe 45 of these great British actors all milling around and that was very scary and very intimidating," Streep said.
Meryl Streep has said that she thinks the movie industry discourages "intelligent, discerning people" from being a part of its audiences.
The multi award-winning actress argued that major films concentrate on people who "buy toys and games" in an interview for CBS News magazine show 60 Minutes.
When correspondent Morley Safer commented on how Hollywood concentrates on themes of "comic strips... vampires [or] gross behavior," Streep said: "That's called the narrowing of the audience.
"The movie business has worked very assiduously to discourage you and other intelligent, discerning people from the theater, from the movie theater," she added as Safer laughed. "They have worked hard to get rid of you, because you don't go then and buy toys and games."
However, Streep added that she believes that the quality of acting is now "better than in the classic days" of the movie industry.
She also expressed her preference for working on "movies that have a little budget", explaining that this is because she dislikes shooting the same scene several times and that low-budget films cannot afford to do this.
Streep will next be seen playing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, which is released on January 6, 2012 in the UK and January 13, 2012 in the US.
Watch Meryl Streep's interview with 60 Minutes in full below:
Photo credit: Meryl Streep at the premiere of 'Iron Lady.' (Getty Images)
It was a family affair at the premiere of Meryl Streep's film "The Iron Lady" at the Ziegfeld Theater on Tuesday.
Streep's daughters - Mamie, Grace and Louisa Gummer - and hubby Don Gummer all came out to support Streep, who was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award Wednesday for playing famed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the biopic.
Post-premiere, the family headed to Forty-Four at the Royalton for the Veuve Clicquot-sponsored after-party - except for Louisa, who had to skip it because she is "under 21," a source told us.
1. Tilda Swinton: If you're going to have a shot at beating Meryl Streep for Best Actress, then you better come armed with great reviews and better buzz. Check and check for the star of the just-opened We Need to Talk About Kevin.
2. Meryl Streep: If you're really going to have a shot at beating you-know-who, then you better make sure nobody sees how eerie good she who needs no introduction looks in the new trailer for The Iron Lady. Er, oops...
3. Andy Serkis: He's got the studio-backed ad campaign, now all the motion-capture star of Rise of the Planet of the Apes needs is the votes.
UP? DOWN? WHO CAN'T TELL!
1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: So, usually it's a bad thing if you won't let anybody see your movie, but this 9/11 drama withTom Hanks and Sandra Bullock got the New York Times to posit that maybe, just maybe, in this case, it's a good thing.
WHO'S FALLING
1. The Artist: Who doesn't love this plucky silent movie? Nobody. But, we're, what?, a couple seconds into awards season, and already this one is feeling a bit precious—and a lot like it's going to get trampled by the likes of War Horse.
2. Alan Rickman: Whatever happened to that first-ever major Oscar nomination for the Harry Potter series? According to the oddsmakers, it's not happening, at least not for Rickman.
3. W.E.: Given Madonna's track record in Hollywood, one should never assume the pop icon is in the Oscar race; in fact, one should assume she isn't. But when Harvey Weinstein's distributing her latest movie, and releasing it in December, one may start to doubt all that one knows to be true. Don't. The drama's being killed by critics, and isn't going anywhere—except maybe to the Globes, courtesy the song, "Masterpiece."
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Ricky Gervais was on hosting duties for the Golden Globes; below, Meryl Streep collects her award for best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Pictures: Getty
