Continuing the summer trend of trailer releases for the Oscar movies of the fall and winter seasons is the trailer for The Iron Lady. Last week The Guardian gave us an impressive teaser for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and today they bring us a less impressive first trailer for the upcoming Meryl Streep film. The Iron Lady has Streep stepping into the shoes of the infamous ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, still the only woman to have ever taken the job, and will presumably chart the rise and fall of her 8 year reign over the UK.
The teaser is clearly trying to be ominous. The use of Clint Mansell‘s unnerving music, taken from Moon, and the build up to the reveal of Thatcher for half the teaser works. The voice is pretty much perfect and is actually not as ridiculous as Thatcher’s own voice. But then the actual reveal more than makes up for the lack of ridiculousness as we see her the teeth and the exaggerated expressions. Thus the trailer actually comes out as being spectacularly misjudged.
That being said, this is only a teaser and the full trailer will obviously give us more of an idea of what to expect. Many people are saying this may well bring Streep a third Oscar and while I can see it happening, it just seems a bit silly. The signs are both good and bad for the movie. It has a fantastic cast of British supporting actors including Jim Broadbent, Roger Allam, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Head and Olivia Coleman.
As for the bad, well it’s directed by Phyllida Lloyd who directed Mamma Mia,which doesn’t really match up with the political biopic she’s trying to craft here. Plus, the false teeth aren’t brilliant either, although they do add character.
With the Weinstein Company being the driving force behind the film, it would be very risky to bet against Streep for the awards season considering how fierce a campaigner Harvey Weinstein is. If Nicole Kidman can win over voters with a howlingly awful fake nose, Meryl Streep can take home gold with a set of false teeth.
The Iron Lady will be released on December 16th in the US, at the height of the awards season.
