Margaret Thatcher’s family decline red carpet of Iron Lady
THE new Meryl Streep flick about Margaret Thatcher – Iron Lady – is almost certainly going to ruffle some feathers, not least with Thatcher’s own family who have rejected an invitation to see the movie at a public screening, according to the film’s director.
Phyllida Lloyd said that despite the fact she based most of the film on the autobiography of the former Prime Minister’s daughter Carol, she’s not actually spoken to the family about the controversial picture.
Of course, Iron Lady has attracted a fair amount of criticism from various quarters. Some don’t like the way it has depicted the Baroness suffering from dementia. Others just thoroughly hate Maggie Thatcher and are worried that the film will shine a kind light on her.
Speaking on the BBC’s World At One programme ahead of the premiere in London, the director said that half the film was “pure imagination“, inspired by Carol Thatcher’s book A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl and that, the other half is told from Thatcher’s point of view as a tale of “power, and what it might have felt like to have great power and then to lose all power”.
The director added: “I think most people who see the film will feel that Meryl’s performance of the older Margaret really does take care of her dignity and we all felt that somehow the portrait of somebody who is experiencing a failure of strength and health and forgetfulness is not a shameful thing to put on the screen.
“We did make contact with the family sometime ago to tell them what we were trying to do but they perhaps quite understandably have sort of stepped back from the whole thing.
“They were the first people we invited to see the finished film. They didn’t take up our offer and 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.”
What do you think of it all? Forgiven her for snatching your milk yet?
Posted: 4th, January 2012 | In: Film Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
