LittleWhiteLies.co.uk – 13th July, 2011

Trailer Talk – The Iron Lady

By James Wright

Release date: January 6, 2012.

The cast: Meryl Streep, Harry Loyd, Jim Broadbent, Anthony Head, Richard E Grant, Roger Allam, Olivia Colman.

The pitch: Streep fluffs back her bouffant and dons some pearls as Margaret Thatcher to line up for what will surely be Academy catnip.

The buzz: A few stills here, a teaser trailer there, with each one increasing the film’s hype before the inevitable drive to do a King’s Speech at next years awards season. It’s still relatively early days, but the script is said to have angered Thatcher’s children who are reported to be have been appalled, calling it “some Left-wing fantasy.”

Reasons this could be good: Streep is always good value but with a character as visually and historically rich as Maggie, she could once again prove to the world why she is one of the best in the business. Equally, the rest of the cast ain’t half bad either, with a variable who’s who of British acting elite propping up the bill.

Reasons this could be bad: The King’s Speech in a dress? Can The Iron Lady realistically have the same amount of patriotic warmth that Colin Firth? Will this be Thatcher the warmonger or a gooey ‘triumphing against the odds’ Hollywood vehicle? Does anyone even care? Only time will tell.

Soundtrack: There’s no official news on who will be undertaking the film’s score as of yet, but is using part of the Moon score for the trailer a bit, well, sloppy? Sure Clint Mansell’s music does the usual job of making everything seem epic, but hopefully a bit more consideration will have been applied to the finished article.

The verdict: It’s more than likely that The Iron Lady will be just as toothless and conservative as The King’s Speech was, but equally there’s no doubt that it will also have just as much critical acclaim.

Best bit: 0.40-0.50 – In what is admittedly a trailer of very few details, the 10 seconds of Streep in full Thatcher mode are priceless.