Pictured right, Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” The Academy’s most favoritest actress ever? Doing an accent? Doing a BRITISH accent? In a period piece? About a tough-yet-dignified woman making strides in a tradtionally-masculine political role? Ye Gods! Why even hold a vote at this point?
Director is Phyllida Lloyd, who previously worked with Streep on the insipid “Mama Mia!”
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
…it's so true. so. true.
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Great. 2 of my least favourite things: fake British accents and Margaret Thatcher.
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Bob, I'm genuinely disappointed in you. You know well and good this won't win, and you know why.
Margaret Thatcher was a conservative leader.
😉
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First off, you're dislike of the academy, and more importantly your rationale for it, is starting to get comical and I refused to say this after you literally spent a 5 minute video complaining that the academy likes their movies, instead of your movies, so this is a milestone. Maybe the academy voters could do a video on how their movies never win the Saturn Awards.
Seriously though, go glance at the best picture winners from the last 10 years, and try applying the 'Oscar bait' definition to it and let me know how it comes up. I'm up late tonight so let me know how The Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby and No Country for Old Men are oscar bait.
Secondly, that is a VIOLENTLY loose interpretation of period piece. 1980's (IE, when she was prime minister) is period? Jeez, is Wall Street a period movie?
Thirdly, while it was slightly more justified with Like Water For Elephants, dismissing it as Oscar Bait, when it started filming 9 days ago, is making you look So what it's oscar bait? Could be good.
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Hello all!!
As a British man, and a northern British man at that, I'm interested in how my fellow northerners are going to respond to this!
Though I was not alive at the time, my father, grandfather and other family and friends were all working in the mines at the time when Maggie was destroying the mining unions, completely up-rooting and desomating a way of life, a feeling still strongly felt by most british pit (mine) workers (predominately liberal voters!)! It shall be most interesting to see how the british public take this, especially if it shows her in a sentimental light, because some of us up in the norths of Britain can never fogive her for what see did! For more info, just google it man!
I wait with baited breath…
Love to you moviebob, longtime fan!!!
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Hmmm…I'm torn. On one hand Ms. Streep is THE Hollywood actress, and the Oscars love the pseudo-true life dramas.
But as mentioned already in liberal circles Margaret Thatcher is the poster girl for demon spawn. The current hate for Sarah Palin is tame by comparison.
I'm actually really interested to see what they do with this.
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Bob I just had an epiphany. I was watching Moulin Rouge and I was enjoying the hell out of it.
It reminded me in a striking way of Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The wonderful suspension of things like gravity, proportions and time. So good.
I looked it up, and sure enough, Baz Luhrmann was not nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.
Oh, to sit at a lunch with Luhrmann, Edgar Wright… and yeah lets have Nolan there too. 🙂
(Moulin Rouge was nominated for Best Picture that year so the story has a lot in common with Inception. 😛 )
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Actually, I'm kind looking forward to see this. One of the most hated political figure of our recent history, a women known to trash the Brithsh health system, implanted heavy taxes, destroyed workers unions and screwed up so much that had to resign.
I want to see that Hollywood bullshit magic! You now what I'm talking about
Turn her into that intense, but heatfll leader, ascension and fall, drama bullshit and make Streep a heroine out of her. Man I do love some Hollywood bullshit magic.
And we are stil talking about Oscar? who cares…
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I am also looking forward to this. As a young Northern man (like poster Sam before me) I am interested in how this turns out. You see my family wasn't directly affected by the Mines shutting down, and I remember her for taking power away from fat corrupt union leaders that were holding the country to ransom, and for supporting the Falkland Islands who wanted to remain British against Argentinian agressors.
Just goes to show really.
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It's amazing how willing people are to construe a bit of snark as “hate” where Moviebob's concerned. Mocking some pretty damn blatant trends at the Oscars means he hates the academy, mocking fandom's reverence of Chris Nolan means he hates the man himself…
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Margaret Thatcher as a tough-yet-dignified woman? I think you'll find there is a large portion of Britain who see her more as “Bitch who broke the North's back, took a piss on it, than laughed.”
But yeah, the Falkland War focus can easily make it an under dog story, perfect for the Oscars.
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@British Fans,
Here's the thing, guys: I'm pretty sure the movie itself is an American production, and the ONLY thing most Americans (think they) “know” about Thatcher is that she was Wonder Woman to Reagan's Superman and John Paul II's Aquaman when the three of them teamed-up to personally tear down the Berlin wall 😉
I'm not even joking – even in our supposedly “leftist” educational system, that's the narrative most of us get: The Soviets were on the brink of world-conquest until two hard-right ideologues and The Pope teamed up and stopped them. So… that's probably the movie we'll get out of this, with Thatcherism's negative impact on the North played as a “gray area” that makes her overall “heroism” more three-dimensional.
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About the Falklands war.
Britain was no the underdog. They vastly surpassed (and still do) Argentina in military power and had support from the US.
Argentina was under a military regime that sent under-equipped, under-trained soldiers who, predictably, got their asses kicked.
Britain may have not initiated the conflict, but the were clearly not underdogs.
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Does anyone else think that photo makes her look like one of the puppets from “Lazytown”?
Also, yes, Mama Mia was insipid, but I still dance in my chair when I remember Christine Baranski singing “Does Your Mother Know?”.
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@Bob
Both the writer and director are British
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I dunno Bob, aren't you looking too down on americans? Sure, they might not have the entire story, but the “holy war” against the Reds is long gone, and now we can see what the ture colors of the leaders of those times.
My mother grew up into the south-american dictatorships, and the history she got was different than mine. Granted, it's not the same thing, but what I mean is that the image the public have of those times changed a lot. People don't see Regan as a Superman any more, but as a puppet that helped to destroy the north-american welfare state. Same goes to Thatcher, as she is despised in England even to this day. It's not something easy to ignore.
That's why I'm curious to see how they will portrait Streep as the former prime-minister. But I guess we all know how this is going to be. Hell, if the “Queen” got Helen Mirren an Oscar and tottaly missed Elizabeth II for what she really is, they can make Thatcher a freaking hero and get away with it.
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Oh and the Malvinas (in south amereca we still don't say Falklands) war, the Britsh were the underdogs??? Really you guys?
Don't make me laugh, Argentina was broken by one of the most violent dictatorships this continent has seen, they sent boys with no training, no weapons wathsoever to die, while the Britshhad even submarines and the USA support.
Still, Argentina was the who started it, so I guess the Brits didn't have much choice. Even so, the argentinians hold a bit of a grundge against England. Can't say there were too kind to us brazialians as well
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fuck margaret thatcher, the stubborn whore who allowed irish men to starve to death in H block. Who sent british soldiers to die over some pointless Island that could have been reclaimed through diplomacy. Who put british miners out of work and divided the political landscape of her country to such a horrific degree it has never really recovered. The blood of all those soldiers, all those hunger strikers and all the people killed during the IRA's retaliation are on her hands. If hollywood glorifyes that bitch all Irish people and all irish descendants should boycott it.
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@Bob Than Americans are quite stupid, aren't they.
To put it bluntly, Thatcher was Stalin-esque in her politics, enforcing censorship of the media and ignoring the people's will because she thought she was right and therefore the majority of people must be wrong. She represented everything liberal's hated.
But hay, she was a women so therefore she must be alright! Silly Americans.
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Has that Krusty rerun gone through anybody else's head?
Children, remain calm! The Falkland Islands have just been invaded!
http://eyeonspringfield.tumblr.com/post/68133158/children-remain-calm-the-falkland-islands-have
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Cripes. I'm not even a particular fan of Thatcher's, but she at least looked the part. If that shot is anything to go by, Streep's Thatcher will be less “iron” and more “margarine.”
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Actually, the French provided more useful assistance to the UK during the Falklands War than the US did. It was just under the table.
And Bob has a point. Growing up in Canada in the 80s, the Iron Lady, Cold Warrior was the popular Thatcher rhetoric at the time (even in one of the Bond films). I didn't even know about all the vast domestic criticism lodged at Thatcher until I discovered British comic book writers and musicians who castigated her in their works. Incidentally, I guess that makes our PM at the time, Brian Mulroney, the Jimmy Olson of that arrangement, although he remains almost universally loathed in Canada to this day.
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Bob,
The thing here that I see is a movie that will be steeped in controversy, no matter what. I predict:
The liberals will think she got off too easy, and was put on a pedestal, despite her crimes against the welfare state, and
The conservatives will think she's being demonized too much, despite her helping to end the cold war.
Am I right? Regardless of what the “average” american thinks, and how truly educated they are on the subject, Thatcher is still a very polarizing figure here.
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@Joe
By British comic books, do you mean “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore? I haven't read the whole thing, mind you. I only saw read the first few pages of it while at Borders.
I HAVE watched the movie though. I kinda enjoyed the movie and I wish that the war between fans of the book and fans of the movie would stop. Same with Watchmen.
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