If you grew up in England during the ’80s, Margaret Thatcher might be at least one of those things in your mind. Since I grew up in the States, I know her more from the parodies and commentaries in comics by Berkely Breathed and Dave Sim. Granted, Sim’s take might have been slightly colored by his more…eccentric views, so I’m not taking any of that stuff as gospel.
Whether your Thatcher is fashion plate or fascist, she’s about to elbow the Queen out of the way as leader of choice on the silver screen. Pathe and BBC Films are coordinating efforts to develop a script based on the fortnight before the PM sent troops to the Falkland Islands in 1982. (Seventeen days to be exact, but how often do I get to use ‘fortnight’?)
The ensuing war in the Falklands was a major turning point for Thatcher, who went from unpopular champion of the 15% VAT and poster lady for unemplyment to patriotic champion almost overnight.
Given the popularity of The Queen, don’t expect to see the war onscreen; this is more likely to be a marriage of Mirren’s film and Thirteen Days, with a lot more handbags and, probably, a CGI nose.