«Tradition Prepared Her. Change Will Define Her.»
читать дальшеThe real Queen Elizabeth II refuses to watch this film, as she does not wish to relive "one of the worst weeks of her life."
Helen Mirren's performance received a five minute standing ovation at the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Helen Mirren arranged for the actors playing members of the Royal family,
specifically James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms and Alex Jennings to spend a lot of time together off camera.
This was done so that they would feel comfortable with each other like a real family.
Helen Mirren says transforming herself into the Queen came almost naturally after the wig and glasses,
especially since she shares a default facial expression, a slightly down turned mouth, with the monarch.
She also regularly reviewed film and video footage of Elizabeth and kept photographs in her trailer during production.
The writer Peter Morgan says it was convincing enough that, by the end of production,
crew members who had been accustomed to slouching or relaxing when they addressed her were standing straight up
and respectfully folding their hands behind their backs.
The writer Peter Morgan reconstructed the events of the week after the death of Princess Diana
through extensive interviews with many unnamed sources close to the Prime Minister and the royal family.
Many of these sources were able to corroborate the accounts of others, giving Morgan enough information to imagine intervening scenes.
Some aspects of the characters are known to be true to their real-life counterparts.
Cherie Blair's hostility to the monarchy has been widely reported, including her refusal to curtsy
(said to amuse the Queen in private, as it does in the film).
According to Peter Morgan, "cabbage" is an actual term of endearment Prince Phillip uses for his wife.
The jewelry Helen Mirren wears is based on actual jewels owned by Elizabeth II. Some pieces shown include:
her trademark 2 or 3 strands of pearls, Queen Victoria's bow brooch (at Diana's funeral),
and Queen Mary's button earrings (the large pearl earrings each topped by a tiny diamond.)
The scenes within the Royal household were shot on 35mm film, so they would look lush and cinematic,
while those within Blair's world were shot on 16mm, so they would look more like television,
in order to give visual contrast between commoners and royalty.
The second time that Michael Sheen plays Tony Blair.
He previously played him in The Deal and would play him for a third time in The Special Relationship.
Helen McCrory once again would play Cherie Blair in The Special Relationship (again opposite Michael Sheen as Tony Blair).
Helen Mirren, who plays the Queen, is of Russian ancestry.
In real life, it is Prince Philip who is connected to Russian royalty, through his father he is the great-great grandson
of Nicolas I of Russia and his maternal grandmother was the eldest sister of Tsarina Alexandra Romanov,
the last Tsarina of Russia.