While scans from the Vanity Fair article “Maggie Mia” have been posted already (see here), their website has now published the article as well, with a better quality version of the stunning promotional picture you’ll find below.
Is the world dying for a Margaret Thatcher biopic? Probably no more than it’s dying for Harold Wilson or John Major biopics, the dramatic possibilities of the Falklands War notwithstanding. But wait. A Margaret Thatcher biopic starring Meryl Streep? That’s P.M.-tainment! How she wrested the part from one Dame or another remains a mystery whose solution is known only to the actress and her director; we’re just thrilled she got her mitts on it. (And now America is finally even for Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett O’Hara.) Did we mention that we love Meryl Streep? Love-love-LOVE her? That there’s literally no other performer we’d rather see on-screen? Even Jessica Alba? Streep, over the last decade, has evolved from being the Greatest Actress of Her Generation to also being the slyest and wittiest and lightest afoot, ventilating the von Sydow heaviness of her younger roles with a bit of Astaire fresh air. Limited footage available from The Iron Lady suggests Streep’s Thatcher will fit somewhere between the poles of her Julia Child and her Miranda Priestly—a Tory leader who can debone Labour M.P.’s as if they were whole chickens, or stiffen wobbly American presidents with a witheringly arched eyebrow, and yet never lose sight of her inner Python housewife. The director is Phyllida Lloyd, who three years ago put Streep at the center of the 21st century’s finest movie musical: Mamma Mia! (Seriously. You can have Chicago and Dream Girls, though we’ll keep Hairspray too.) Along for the ride, Jim Broadbent will risk being ahistorically interesting as Denis Thatcher. Did we mention that we love Meryl Streep?
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