Margaret Thatcher (left, in 1986) and Meryl Streep as the former PM in 'The Iron Lady'.
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron attacked Meryl Streep's latest movie The Iron Lady for portraying Margaret Thatcher's declining mental health while the former leader is still alive.
Cameron, speaking about the biopic on BBC Radio 4's "Today" program, said that while he appreciated Oscar-winning Streep's portrayal of the UK's first female prime minister, the decision to release the film before her death was questionable.
"It's a fantastic piece of acting by Meryl Streep but I just ... you can't help wondering ... why do we have to have this film right now?" he said. "It's a film much more about ageing and elements of dementia rather than about an amazing prime minister."
He added that he wished the movie, which charts Thatcher's battle with dementia, could have been made "another day".
Cameron's comments follow weeks of criticism of the film from friends and supporters of the 86-year-old former Conservative leader.
Thatcher's former foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, called the movie "ghoulish" earlier this week while Norman Tebbit, the former Conservative Party chairman, accused 62-year-old Streep of "half-hysterical, over-emotional over-acting."
Her family also turned down the invitation to see the movie, which premiered Wednesday in London.
The Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd, said, "I think that most people who see the film will think that Meryl's performance of the older Margaret really does take care of her dignity ? it's something that Meryl, (screenwriter) Abi Morgan and I really felt was a worthwhile exploration. The portrayal is quite tender."
Streep defended her choice to portray Thatcher's mental decline while the elderly woman was still alive in an interview with the Daily Mail.
"I think if a movie like this is done in the right way, it's ok," she said.
"Some people have said that it's shameful to portray this part of a life, that the ebbing end of life is something that should be shut away and that people need to be defended from the images of those suffering from dementia. But I don't think it's shameful. I don't see why it can't be shown."
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