"The Queen": a film about Elizabeth II and the death of Diana.

Toledo · #1 07-19-2006, 09:31 PM

'The Queen' to debut at New York Film Fest

NEW YORK, July 19 (UPI) -- A controversial new movie about the royal family's reaction to the death of Princess Diana will premiere at the New York Film Festival Sept. 29, 2006.
...Frears said that the script of the movie is based on interviews with insiders and royal watchers.

Toledo · #2 07-19-2006, 09:33 PM

link with picture of the actress playing Elizabeth II:

North American Premiere of Frears' "The Queen" To Open 2006 New York Film Festival

another link with a picture: Frears Pic to Open NYFF

...First of all, its title -- The Queen -- is just vague enough to be intriguing: The movie could be about anyone from, like, Isabel of Spain to Liberace. So there's some built-in suspense there.

...the film is set within England's royal family immediately after the death of Princess Diana, which could potentially be incredibly interesting. Finally and most importantly, it stars Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. Actually, just that would sell me -- Mirren is a staggeringly talented actress who gets more interesting and more impressive as she gets older...

Toledo · #3 07-19-2006, 09:35 PM

This link has the lead actress without the movie makeup, I have to say she makes a dashing Queen Elizabeth:

NY fest to open with film about week after Diana's death

...In an interview with the BBC, Mirren said she plays the Queen as a woman who is "steady, true, honest and British." Mirren played Elizabeth I in the HBO miniseries about the life of the monarch...

Toledo · #4 07-19-2006, 09:46 PM

'Queen' Rules New York Festival Opening
July 19, 2006
By Gregg Goldstein
..."It's a beautifully pitched script with darkly comic undertones that gives amazing insight into what went on behind the palace gates," said Miramax president Daniel Battsek.
The studio will start releasing "Queen" in early October...

So, any Royal Forum member in the New York area planning to attend the Festival so we can get a review before the film goes out in October?

Any word about this film from our Forum friends in Great Britain with access to the local news?

CrownPrinceLorenzo · #5 07-20-2006, 01:05 AM

I think it's cool that Helen Mirren played both Elizabeth I and II lol.

Toledo · #6 07-20-2006, 11:12 PM

I don't know her work but I think she was on TV doing a version of an old movie where she plays a rich american woman in Rome, titled something like Mrs....Roman holiday? or something like that. There was a young homeless (?) man after that at the end of the movie goes to the hotel she is staying and that's how the movie ends. Maybe based on a play by Tennesse Williams or Capote?

Lady Marmalade · #7 07-21-2006, 10:57 AM

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is the cable movie. It is a remake of the one with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty.

**Warren** · #8 07-21-2006, 11:05 AM

Wer'e not discussing Helen Mirren's previous roles here. This thread is about the new film. :)

Toledo · #9 07-21-2006, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Marmalade

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is the cable movie. It is a remake of the one with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty.

That's the title!!!! Thanks!!! :)

I wrote it down on my DVD must-have list for the weekend. And guess what, I was reading this morning an old New Yorker Magazine from April that has her being advertised in a two part HBO movie about Queen Elizabeth I. Imagine the coincidence! This actress should make a career playing all English Queens.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warren

Wer'e not discussing Helen Mirren's previous roles here. This thread is about the new film. :)

:p
Okay, arfter that stick of the tongue reaction to our pal Warren, I'll get back on track. Here is my new favorite actress of the week, Helen Mirren's Royal character Elizabeth II, the buzz is now about an Oscar nomination so I guess the movie has been previewed already

Mirren's 'Queen' may be royal pain
one quote from the above link:
...Hollywood courtiers are already flattering Helen Mirren with Oscar buzz for her performance in "The Queen," which will open the New York Film Festival. But it seems unlikely the real queen - Her Majesty Elizabeth II - will be amused....

ysbel · #10 07-21-2006, 11:10 AM

This is old news. The studio announced it a couple of months ago. Its supposed to tell the events from the Queen's point of view. Helen Mirren is a good actress and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

You can catch up on the old discussion in this thread.

Kelly · #11 07-21-2006, 11:10 AM

So has this film been approved by the BRF?

BeatrixFan · #12 07-21-2006, 11:11 AM

I think this film will be interesting to watch but it's like any other film of this nature - it's fiction shaped on the bones of fact and that gets slightly dangerous. It's like the objections to the Da Vinci Code - it's fiction presented as fact and so people may see this film and believe that is actually what the Queen said or did and I worry slightly that this could be a disaster. However, Helen Mirren recently gave an interview about playing the Queen and we know Dame Helen is a Royalist. She said she wouldn't do anything to hurt the Queen and I tend to trust Helen's acting capabilities. She was wonderful as Elizabeth I and I'm sure she'll be brilliant at Elizabeth II but I'll be interested to see just how it's presented.

Toledo · #13 07-21-2006, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ysbel

This is old news. The studio announced it a couple of months ago. Its supposed to tell the events from the Queen's point of view. Helen Mirren is a good actress and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

You can catch up on the old discussion in this thread.

I could not find it, those photos were on the opening?

From what I posted here I gather that the film has not debuted to the public yet but it has been seen by a few groups (critics and test audiences) already.

ysbel · #14 07-21-2006, 12:06 PM

Its on the first page of the thread. Here's the link to the original article in the Sun.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005430724,00.html

Lady Marmalade · #15 07-21-2006, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warren

Wer'e not discussing Helen Mirren's previous roles here. This thread is about the new film. :)

I was just trying to be polite by answering Toledo's question. I know what this thread is about. I just doing an act of kindness by helping another poster out.

I apologize to all for that.

Toledo · #16 07-21-2006, 02:05 PM

According to this link, the actress playing The Queen, Dame Helen Mirren, descends herself from the Russian aristocracy but the article does not elaborate more into it. This and another site says her father was a driving instructor and musician and her grandfather stranded in England after the Russian revolution. But Hello Magazine is a little more brutal with her ancestry and calls her the daugther of a Russian taxi driver: Ouch!
http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/helenmirren/

Come to think of it, I don't remember any other actress who has played both Queens ever. Dame Helen Mirren has just gone to the record and trivia books with this achievement.

This other link talks about her characterizations on both Elizabeths:
For Mirren, there's nothing easy about being a queen
quote from the above link:
...After wowing audiences earlier this year in HBO's four-hour telefilm "Elizabeth I," Helen Mirren exhibits a regal bearing again in Stephen ("Mrs. Henderson Presents") Frears' "The Queen," a controversial drama about Queen Elizabeth II's inability to comprehend the depth of a shocked public's response to the death of Princess Diana....

Can't wait for the film to open for all of us in October. I guess in the USA it will be one of those limited screening films in artsy movie theaters, nothing major. I'll see it and tell you my impression then.

Ysabel, you are in NY, any way you could get to go to that film festival?

**Elspeth** · #17 07-22-2006, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly

So has this film been approved by the BRF?

I very much doubt it. Wonder if they're going to watch.

I noticed that Helen Mirren got her damehood before essaying the role of HMQ in a touchy situation.

Toledo · #18 07-28-2006, 10:32 PM

'Diana crisis' film in the running at Venice festival
By Hugh Davies
(Filed: 28/07/2006)

...A film in which Dame Helen Mirren depicts the Queen in the days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, will compete at this year's Venice film festival.
The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears, will dramatise the monarch's struggle between private grief and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning following the princess's death in Paris...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspeth

I very much doubt it. Wonder if they're going to watch.

I noticed that Helen Mirren got her damehood before essaying the role of HMQ in a touchy situation.

The above link has this quote that answers some of your concerns:

...Dame Helen said: "I'd be devastated if she feels that I've betrayed her in my portrayal of her.
''I find her duty and self-sacrifice incredible virtues.''