This past weekend I went to the cinema to see The Iron Lady, starring the incredibly talented Meryl Streep. Streep played the lead role of Margaret Thatcher, for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama). With a budget of around $14 million, the funds were used quite impressively, considering the quality of the film and the portrayal of Margaret Thatcher over six decades. The prosthetics designer, Mark Coulier, did an amazing job turning Streep into Thatcher. Alexandra Roach, who played young Margaret Thatcher, also did a stunning job in her role as the ambitious, passionate, and smart leader.
Meryl Streep with her Golden Globe 2012
Though the film focuses in large part on Thatcher’s dementia and aging, we witness flashbacks in Thatcher’s old age to different times throughout her life and career. Streep noted to the United Press International, “All of us understood through a process of a year before we started shooting what we were wanting from this piece. That it was going to be, not a docudrama, not a chronicling of Margaret Thatcher’s political life. That it would be a very particular look back through her own eyes at selected memories, not in chronological order, in a jumble of memory, regret, glory days. That it would all be part of a reckoning at the end.”
This was one of my favorite quotes from the movie. “Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become…habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become.”
The Iron Lady really made me think about life, aging, and what it means to be a leader. It is powerful, moving, and in its own way, heartbreaking, for many different reasons.
Oscar nominations are today…I feel confident saying that Meryl Streep will receive a nomination for Best Actress, and I do hope that Mark Coulier is given the recognition he deserves, as well.
Update: Oscar nominations have been released! And not only is Meryl Streep nominated for Best Actress, but Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland have been nominated for Makeup!
A Dash of Cinema 