Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Thatcher clan pissed after "Iron Lady" screening

Big shocker that friends and relatives of Margaret Thatcher are sour about how she's depicted in The Iron Lady. Of course I haven't seen the film yet, but what the hell did they expect? I mean no disrespect to Lady Thatcher as a person or to her "service" in the U.K., but get serious Thatcherites. There exist people on this earth who don't exactly consider her or her politics the bee's knees. For crying out loud she and Ronald Reagan were basically separated at birth. I'm not suggesting everything she stood for was completely awful, and I'm not her personal historian, but as a thinking human being I am able to comprehend that the sun doesn't rise and set in capitalism's figurative pants.

As for Meryl, from what I gather she seems to be a relatively liberal, progressive, feminist woman. I certainly don't presume to know all of her personal viewpoints, but she's an intelligent person and no doubt recognizes and appreciates the impact certain people may have made on history. When the film began shooting, Meryl was quoted as saying, "I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervor and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses – I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her own!" Not exactly a slap in Maggie's face.

With all the attention this is getting and the controversy surrounding the comments being made by those close to Thatcher, all I can think is that it's going to translate into box office success. As far as I'm concerned, the more people that see a Meryl movie the better. Historically Meryl hasn't always been a huge box office draw, but in the last five years I think she's been hovering around the top five grossing actresses with hits like The Devil Wears Prada, Mama Mia!, Doubt and Julie and Julia. It looks like The Iron Lady may just keep the ball rollin'. So to those who were "insulted" by what they considered the filmmakers taking too much license in this (fictional) movie regarding Thatcher's personal life: boo fucking hoo.

1 comment:

  1. I am suggesting that everything she stood for was totally awful.

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