 |
The Daily Mail has a very extensive and interesting article on “The Iron Lady”, including some quotes by Meryl’s co-star Richard E. Grant, who will be playing Michael Hesletine in the film. The fulll article can be read here: Meryl Streep, attired with uncanny accuracy as Margaret Thatcher, is shooting a scene from the forthcoming film Iron Lady. Striding down a parliamentary corridor in power suit and pearls, her blonde wig coiffed to replicate the distinctive Prime Ministerial hair-do; her voice crisp with authority, Streep, it seems, has perfectly caught the power and allure of our first female PM. But then the cameras stop rolling and an unexpected transformation takes place. She shrugs off the mask of political gravitas, kicks the air with her court-shoed heels and bursts into a chorus of Abba songs. Richard E. Grant, who plays Mrs Thatcher’s political nemesis Michael Heseltine in the film, watched with amusement and delight as Streep – who won plaudits as Abba-loving Donna in the blockbuster movie Mamma Mia! – performed an impromptu medley of songs from the film.
We were doing a scene in which Mrs Thatcher walks down a corridor with a group of ministers. Between shots, Meryl, still suited and bewigged as Mrs T, sang the Abba hits. It was so incongruous and hilarious and it sums up her humour and sense of mischief. It’s naff to say it, but Meryl makes you feel better about yourself. As an actress, she’s the best of the best. But she’s also unbelievably down-to-earth. She knew everyone on the set by name. She’s appreciative of what other actors do. She has no entourage. It’s like working with a British theatre actress: very unexpected and disarming in someone who has 16 Oscar nominations and two Academy Awards in the bag.
