11/09/2006

Presented at the Venice awards ceremony as “Her Majesty, Helen Mirren”, the UK actress was crowned Best Actress for her turn as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears’ The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] and the man who wrote the part for her, screenwriter Peter Morgan, also took the top prize in his category. This is a well deserve double win for a film that exactly one week ago received a 15-minute standing ovation after its world premiere on the Lido and was among the favourites for the Golden Lion.

When accepting her Coppa Volpi, Dame Helen Mirren, who last month won an Emmy in Hollywood for playing Elizabeth I in the eponymous Channel 4 mini-series, told her Venetian admirers, “It’s always terrifying seeing your movie take its first steps, but it’s an incredible honour for our film to take them at the Venice Festival”.

For his part, Peter Morgan added jokingly, “Thank you Tony Blair for timing your political disintegration with the release of our film!” The scriptwriter had already successfully sharpened his portrayal of the UK Prime Minister, with his arch enemy Chancellor Gordon, in Frears’ acclaimed TV dramaThe Deal.

As Morgan pointed out, the film’s successful platform in Venice, the rave reviews it received from throughout the international press and the current political turmoil in the UK could not have been better timing for the film’s UK distributor Pathe, who will launch it nationwide on 300 prints next Friday, simultaneously with the Italian release by co-producer BIM Distribuzione.

Next on ’s agenda will be the opening of the New York Film Festival on September 29, ahead of its US release in the fall through Miramax and its almost certain plethora of Oscar nominations.