Way back in March, we predicted that the Academy Award race for Best Actress this year would come down to two stars both embodying icons in biopics: two-time nominee Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn” and sixteen-time nominee Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” This morning, The Guardian debuted the teaser trailer for the latter film, which follows the career of the much-feared, much-respected first female Prime Minister of the U.K. and frankly, we’d be surprised if Williams wasn’t feeling a little more confident today.
Borrowing Clint Mansell‘s now-iconic “Welcome To Lunar Industries” from the “Moon” score, the clip is admittedly only a teaser, with actors Roger Allam and Nicholas Farrell playing Conservative Party bigwigs trying to give an unseen Thatcher an image makeover, building to a reveal of Streep in full hair and make-up. And frankly, it’s all a little obvious, glib and more than a little silly: Streep seems to be channeling her character from “Lemony Snicket,” with a sprinkling of Julia Child, rather than embodying the politician. The prosthetic teeth certainly aren’t helping, and neither is the “La Vie En Rose“-cribbed shot at the end.
This isn’t to say that Streep won’t get nominated — obviously, she’s still a force to be reckoned with, and the clip only shows a tiny fraction of what she’ll be offering. But we were concerned about the film already — “Mamma Mia” helmer Phyllida Lloyd is directing, which is in no way a good thing — and this hasn’t helped at all. Still the supporting cast is decent, with Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Anthony Head and Richard E. Grant also on board. The Weinstein Company will release “The Iron Lady” right at the height of awards season in the U.S. on December 16th, with a U.K. release following through Fox and Pathe on January 6th, 2012.
