The Queen

Stephen Frears arrived through a contract clause: his deal on The Deal let him direct any follow-up, and he was announced in September 2003. The two worlds were split at the level of the stock. Shots of the Queen were taken on 35mm, those of Tony Blair on 16mm. Helen Mirren studied recordings of Elizabeth II, kept photographs in her trailer and took voice coaching; Peter Morgan said that by the end of the shoot, crew who had slouched while addressing her stood straight, hands behind their backs. At the 63rd Venice Film Festival it competed for the Golden Lion and left with 3 prizes: the Volpi Cup for Mirren, the Golden Osella for Morgan’s screenplay and the FIPRESCI award. Of 6 nominations at the 79th Academy Awards, only Mirren’s won. The 60th BAFTAs gave it 10 nominations, the most of any film that year, and it won Best Film and Best Actress. A good fit if you are content to see genuine archive footage of Diana beside invented Balmoral scenes. Not for viewers who will take the screen as the record: the film has Alastair Campbell coining the People’s Princess, yet Campbell said in 2007 the phrase was Blair’s, and Robin Janvrin appears as the Queen’s private secretary when he was deputy and the post was Robert Fellowes’s.