Man thanks to Alvaro for sending in scans from the January issue of the UK Empire magazine, they’re running a “Tory Story” on “The Iron Lady”. The most interesting part of this article is that the film still isn’t ready yet – the one shown to the press and at screenings for now was an unfinished version. I guess they’re getting the final stitches just in time for its release. Scans can be found in the image library.

“There’s a flicker board of events really in the ’80s,” says screenwriter Abi Morgan. “You have that decade where she did everything. She stood up against the miners, against the IRA, she led us to war, led us out of war, she kicked us in the nuts, then redeemed us… My memories were very much of the handbag and the beautiful blue suit and the sense of the contradiction of the time: that there was so much sexism around, yet the country was being led by a woman. That made her a very intriguing figur.” It helps if you have an icon to play an icon, and here The Iron Lady has a golden girl to play a true blue: Meryl Streep. “You need a superstar to play Thatcher. You need someone of extraordinary magnetismn and charisma,” insists Phyllida Lloyd, who also points to Streep’s presence as an American in a very English story as an asset when shooting. “Meryl was an outsider, just as Thatcher was.”

Today, a new feature is introduced to Simply Streep – the Movie of the Week. Every Monday from now on, one film will receive a special spotlight on the main page, as well as updated material throughout the site. As the first movie of the week I’ve chosen a fan-favorite – “The Devil Wears Prada”, the 2006 blockbuster that made Meryl a bankable star – and a Golden Globe winner once again. The film page has all the details on the film and its making, the video archive has been re-organized and now features new quality clips such as film scenes, deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer. And the image library has been updated with Blu Ray screencaptures from the film. So enjoy the new additions and tell me your thoughts of the film in the comments :-)

Live Magazine, a supplement of the Daily Mail has published a wonderful article on the making of “The Iron Lady” with many quotes from all of the filmmakers, giving insight on their views on Thatcher and the making of the film. All this is accompanied by stunning new pictures. An excerpt is below, the article can be read on their website and in the magazines archive.

“I worked on the voice. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve done. The really tricky part was that she studied how to produce her voice di.fferently, and sustain a certain amount of public speaking, and deepen her voice, enrich it, support it with breath. So I had to get the two di.fferent voices – the one that she began with, which is quite light and sort of trips along, and then (imitates Thatcher’s older voice) suddenly this sort of authority comes out. I listened to her speaking, mostly, rather than watching her on TV. Listening gives you the posture, everything. I would speak anything – poetry, other people’s speeches – just to have it be second nature, to think in that voice, like another language.”

“I saw Margaret Thatcher once, in 2001, when my daughter Mamie was at Northwestern University. She was on a lecture tour. We were up in the balcony in the cheap seats. She was beautiful, and that was a shock, because we all thought of her in America as sort of dowdy. But we are very snobby about our women in public o.ffice. She was going to lecture for an hour, and there would be 30 minutes, precisely, for a question-and-answer session. She spoke for the hour and then she took questions for an hour and a half. And as time went on, she became even more enlivened and focused, speaking in beautifully wrought paragraphs. She obviously loved the subject matter: statesmanship and America’s role in the world and the special relationship with Reagan, the end of the Cold War. She was extraordinarily controlled and impressive. My view of her as a woman changed during this process. I admire her achievement. I stand in awe of it, even while not agreeing with a lot of the policies. The fact that she got things done, even though many people didn’t like her, was extraordinary. She accepted the fire that came at her and took it. I hope she’ll see the film as an empathetic attempt to understand the size of what her life was, her place in history, what she did, and the human cost we ask our leaders to pay.”

Here comes a first interview on “The Iron Lady” courtesy the British Express: Meryl Streep is the most nominated Oscar actress in Hollywood history. But even she was humbled by her latest role, playing former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. “She is like a heroine from Shakespeare,” she says. “I have held her up as an example to my three daughters of what women can do to change the world.” Streep, 62, who plays Baroness Thatcher, now 86, from her 40s to virtually the present day in a remarkable performance, became entranced by her character. Yet she admits that she knew little or nothing of her life or political policies. “What interested me more was the cost of her own political decisions on her, as a human being,” she says. “The more I researched, the more fascinated I became. When you are a leader and the buck stops with you what does that do to you and how do you stay strong? “I also realised how her policies split the nation. Some thought she was great. Others detested her for those policies. It was such a lonely job, especially for a woman.” Streep was a controversial choice, as an American, to play our Iron Lady. But British director Phyllida Lloyd, who directed Streep three years ago in Mamma Mia! says it was obvious to her. “Margaret Thatcher is the most significant female leader this country has had since Elizabeth I,” she says. “So I wanted the world’s most significant actress to play her.” Streep, though, who has captured the Thatcher voice and renowned grooming to perfection according to many who have already seen the film, has clearly fallen for her subject. The complete article can be read here.

Article courtesy The Hollywood Reporter: Former colleagues and admirers of Margaret Thatcher have mocked Streep’s portrayal of the former British prime minister, but Phyllida Lloyd is unfazed. Less than two months ahead of The Iron Lady’s U.K. release, Meryl Streep’s portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is generating a growing furor among British conservatives bristling at what they consider an unflattering portrayal. Director Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) is unfazed by the uproar. “People have been arguing about her [Thatcher] for months and months,” Lloyd tells THR. “She certainly burns brightly as a still very divisive character.” The movie, made for an estimated $13 million, has been penciled in for a Dec. 30 U.S. release by the Weinstein Co., bowing in exclusive runs in New York and Los Angeles before going wide Jan. 13. It is scheduled to hit U.K. screens Jan. 6 via Pathe’s distribution pact with 20th Century Fox. Much of the opposition to the drama comes from Tory stalwarts and former cabinet ministers who served under Thatcher. None has seen the film, but the movie’s trailer – which mixes elements of gentle comedy with scenes of Thatcher’s personal and political life – was enough to set them off. The complete article can be read here.

As the Hollywood Reporter writes today, Meryl Streep’s portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is already attracting as much controversy as the life and work of Thatcher herself. Ever since the trailer and early screenings have been released, news outlets in the United Kingdom are bursting (or going nuts, that lies in the eye of the beholder) with either praise for Streep’s performance and/or criticism for the film itself. And it’s quite difficult to select who’s seen the film, or just the trailer, or none. The THR continues, as the movie is being widely touted – largely because of Streep’s involvement – as an awards season favorite on both sides of the Atlantic, largely sight unseen. Former cabinet member and Tory stalwart Norman Tebbit wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that Thatcher was “never, in my experience, the half-hysterical, over-emotional, over-acting woman portrayed by Meryl Streep.” That just from the trailer currently showing here. The media screenings begin in earnest next week here but the Tory stalwarts poo-pooing the movie in the pages of the right-wing leaning national The Daily Telegraph are queuing up. Tim Bell, one of Thatcher’s key PR advisers, described the film as a “non-event” and said he had no interest in seeing it (which means, basically, that he hasn’t seen it). The typically left-leaning national broadsheet The Guardian said in its early notice for the film that Streep’s turn is “astonishing and all but flawless; a masterpice of mimicry which re-imagines Thatcher in all her half-forgotten glory.” I personally think that the outrage of any media is a welcome promotion for the film itself. Holding its trailer and screenings back for as long as possible has succeeded in making “The Iron Lady” the talk of the town.

As “The Iron Lady” has been screened for journalists in the United Kingdom these past days, many outlets have published their first reviews, and here’s a summary. David Gritten at The Telegraph said: “Awards should be coming Streep’s way; yet her brilliance rather overshadows the film itself.” The Guardian Xan Brooks said Streep’s performance “is astonishing and all but flawless”. He added: “Yet Streep, it transpires, is the one great weapon of this often silly and suspect picture.” The Daily Mail also praised Streep’s portrayal. Critic Baz Bamigboye wrote: “Only an actress of Streep’s stature could possibly capture Thatcher’s essence and bring it to the screen. The film follows Baroness Thatcher from her early years breaking through class and gender barriers to become prime minister to her political downfall in 1990. The Thatcher era from 1979 to 1990, was a time of social and economic change for Britain. Elected following a period of widespread strikes, dubbed the winter of discontent, Lady Thatcher and her Conservative government embarked on tough reforms to tackle inflation and the trade unions. Her policies divided the country – seeing a boom in the service sector and home ownership but a decline in manufacturing and soaring unemployment.

Added the just unveiled UK poster for “The Iron Lady” as well as captures from the trailer to the gallery.

Lots of “Iron Lady” news today. This morning, Meryl and director Phyllida Lloyd attended a photocall in London to unveil the film’s poster and promote its January 2012 release. Lots of pictures have been added to the gallery.