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.”
Annie
November 29th, 2011
Just one other thing to add – and I apologise for my rant – but I hate reading or hearing the word “Thatcher”. Why can’t people show some respect and say “Mrs Thatcher”? Its so disrespectful and rude and I personally would never call someone just by their surname. I would always use Mr, Mrs or Miss. Guess I was just brought up with more manners than others!
Annie
November 28th, 2011
I absolutely love nearly all Meryl Streeps films, but I have to say this is one film I will not be going to see. Mrs Thatcher has been one of Britain’s most brilliant politicians/Prime Ministers and she will go down in history of being so. However, it seems all the actors in the film are not supporters of Mrs Thatcher and the writers too. To portray an extraordinary, amazing woman in this light, as a feeble, confused, lonely woman is a disgrace and really upsetting to her family, friends and supporters. Why show her in this light when she is unable to defend herself? It is wrong, cruel and very sad. I wish Meryl Streep hadn’t agreed to this role and I hope it gets the reviews it deserves. If the whole cast and crew are lefties and anti Mrs Thantcher’s policies then obviously you’re going to get a byest view. This is one Meryl Streep film I will not be going to see. Shame on you all.
Liz
November 27th, 2011
This article really brings out the care with which everyone involved treated the subject matter. As always, it is wonderful to get insight into Meryl’s motivation and preparation for such an awesome character representation. 47 days and counting for the wide release date!
Sonja
November 27th, 2011
People are tempted to see Margaret Thatcher as some kind of monster. I’m not british, so I did not have to live under the Thatcher era. I’m pretty sure she has made (like ALL politicians) good choices and bad choices and Britain might suffer under these problems even today, but all countries still do not only Britain.
And so they refuse to see Thatcher as a human, especially a woman who had a strong will to rule a country the way she thought it would be right.
They say the film mostly does glorify her too much (although the conservatives would disagree).
I’m not really admiring Thatcher, but I’m fascinated how that woman was able to rule Britain as Prime Minuster for eleven and a half year, reelected three times from her party, when she seems to be so hated. I give Meryl really the respect for playing such a controversal historical figure. How this will turn out awardswise, I don’t know, but at least the film is not so slammed by far as I feared.
Mandy
November 27th, 2011
It’s such a wonderful article to get more understanding of the film before seeing it. Also, it turns out Meryl worked so dedicatedly to conquer this role in spite of the difficulty in her real life back then.
lindi
November 27th, 2011
What a difficult, difficult job had Meryl making this movie, I hope all of this will be compensated in the same way, but how luchy she was to have seen Baroness Thatcher speaking, that´s an EXPERIENCE, thank you Frederick for the pictures magnificent ones
Steven
November 27th, 2011
The article indicates the filmmakers serious attention to detail and accuracy. Unfortunately, except for real enthusiasm for Meryl’s performance, the critical concensus so far for the film as a whole has been rather mixed, at best.