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Fan Rant: 'The Deal' is Better Than 'The Queen'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Casting », Deals », New Releases », Celebrities and Controversy », Scripts », Home Entertainment », Politics », Columns », Fan Rant »
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When Stephen Frears' The Queen came out in 2006, all the buzz emphasized Helen Mirren's icy performance as London's reclusive royal highness. The ubiquitous praise lead to her Oscar win, but it overwhelmed recognition of the movie's secret weapon: Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, quietly pressuring his Majesty to face the public in the wake of Princess Diana's untimely demise. There's a reason why Sheen conveyed the nuances of Blair's role in the event, which transpired a mere three months after the Prime Minister rose to power -- he had practice. The Deal, a fantastic made-for-TV movie Frears directed in 2003, tracked Blair's cunning (and morally questionable) instincts in the years leading up to his position at the top of the Labor Party.
Sheen played Blair in The Deal first, and it's both a superior performance and a superior film. Whereas The Queen had a tabloid hook and only tangentially explored the deeper political ramifications of a reclusive national leader, The Deal delves into precisely how Blair managed to emerge at the top of British politics with a series of calculated maneuvers. Political drama at its finest, The Deal hit DVD in the United States last month, where it has been touted as "the prequel to The Queen." That's not quite fair; The Queen is the sequel to The Deal, and the two movies ought to be seen as a single, wholly fascinating package depicting British politics in the 1990s.
Meg Ryan Will Star in Macy's Hollywood Story 'The Deal'
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Casting », Deals », DIY/Filmmaking »
For a while now, I wondered what on earth William H. Macy was thinking by being a part of Wild Hogs. While it is great to be silly now and then, it helps to not have audiences groaning when the trailer comes on, and shouting: "Why, Macy? Why?" at the screen. Okay, the last part is exaggerated, but I've been on the search for the "why" for a while now, and I think I finally have my answer -- he was doing a dorky family film to raise money for his passion project -- The Deal -- a film he wrote with long-time collaborator and the feature's director, Steven Schachter.Erik shared news of the film last year, when Macy was going to co-star with Friends alum, Lisa Kudrow. Now Variety has Macy headlining the feature with Meg Ryan -- so either Phoebe has been axed, or downgraded, or maybe they didn't consider her big-screen material. The film was originally going to be a Showtime original movie, but it was re-imagined for wide-release. Then again, it's not like Ryan's career is roaring either. These days, the most she seems to drum up is questions about whether she's had work done to her face, and what happened to her chest.
The movie, in short -- Macy plays a struggling movie producer who cons a studio into letting him head a big-money action flick. The lead is kidnapped and the movie is shut down, but Macy's Charlie Berns (not Charlie Burns) uses the money for a secret picture without the studio's consent. While it might seem like just a goofy comedy about movie-making, it's also been Macy's labor of love. He's spent the last few years raising close to $8 million for the picture, all from non-Hollywood investors -- ones who have been quite understanding, according to Variety. The film will begin production this March in South Africa.
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