"One simply has to maximize your appeal. Bring out all your qualities. Make you look and sound like the leader that you could be," says one political advisor to an off-screen Meryl Streep-as-Margaret Thatcher in the first teaser for The Iron Lady. "You've got it in you to go the whole distance," says another. The men are talking about Thatcher's political aspirations, of course, but they might as well be talking about Oscar season. Is this Streep's best chance to get off the Academy Award schneid?
Perhaps. Since the first image of Meryl-as-Maggie surfaced online, the chattering class has heralded her as an Oscar front-runner -- which would be nice, as Streep hasn't won the little gold man since 1983, despite 12 nominations. Judging Streep's performance or the film based on 63 seconds of footage is totally ridiculous, but there is something playful and terrifying about the way her eyes sparkle when dressing-down those conservative muckety-mucks. If that's the tone director Phyllida Lloyd wants to strike with Streep's portrayal, maybe the advanced hype will turn out right.
VERDICT: And the winner is...
[via The Guardian]