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The Special Relationship (film)

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The Special Relationship
Promotional poster
GenreBiographical drama
Written byPeter Morgan
Directed byRichard Loncraine
Starring
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Country of origin
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Frank Doelger
  • Tracey Scoffield
  • Ann Wingate
CinematographyBarry Ackroyd
EditorMelanie Oliver
Running time93 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release29 May 2010 (2010-05-29)

The Special Relationship is a 2010 biographical drama television film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997–2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.

The first drafts of The Special Relationship dealt with Blair's special relationships with U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. However, Morgan excluded the Bush scenes from subsequent drafts (thus ending the narrative on 20 January 2001) because he found the Blair/Clinton dynamic more interesting. Morgan intended to make his directorial debut with the film but backed out a month before filming began and was replaced by Loncraine. The film was produced by Rainmark Films and backed by HBO Films and BBC Films.

The film stars Michael Sheen reprising his role as Blair, Dennis Quaid as Clinton, Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton, and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair. Principal photography on locations in and around London, England ran from 20 July – 4 September 2009. The film was broadcast on HBO in the United States and Canada on 29 May 2010,[1] and on BBC Two and BBC HD in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2010.

Premise

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The film is set between the years of 1997 and 2001 and depicts the UK–US Special Relationship between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton. Executive producer Christine Langan said of the plot, "The film's time frame goes from 1994, when New Labour was taking lessons from Clinton's people, to 1998 and the end of the Kosovo War. It focuses on the international activities of Blair as prime minister and what he learns from his American ally. They're brothers in arms, but Clinton is weakened by the Lewinsky scandal in the middle of it all, while Blair strengthens his position, moving from being something of an acolyte to equal to moral superior, post-Kosovo."[2]

Cast

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  • Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Sheen previously played Blair in Peter Morgan's The Deal and The Queen. Critics noted that his portrayal in The Queen was much more sympathetic than in The Deal, which Morgan attributed to Blair being in a "honeymoon" period after his appointment as Prime Minister in May 1997.[3] Sheen felt a greater scope to play Blair in this film compared to the previous two; "This was interesting because it covers a much bigger period of time for the character. It allowed me to explore things I wasn't able to explore in the other films and take things further. I just found it a very fascinating story how this man changed with time and how he developed and how he became the man making the choices he eventually made that turned a lot of people against him."[4]
  • Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton, President of the United States. To match Clinton's physique, Quaid gained 35 pounds (16 kg) in weight by eating McDonald's food every day—which he described as being like "a baby on a feeding schedule"[5]—and had his eyebrows trimmed and his hair grayed.[6] He worked on adopting Clinton's accent, and fell into character once he wore a suit and "Clinton wig".[7] Quaid met Clinton in the late 1990s when he spent a weekend at the White House. He previously played a President of the United States (albeit fictional) in the film American Dreamz, whom he based on George W. Bush.[6] Russell Crowe, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins were also considered to play the role.[8] Screenwriter Morgan thought Vince Vaughn would have been a good choice if the film was being made ten years later.[9]
  • Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton, First Lady of the United States. Davis began filming her scenes at the beginning of August.[10] She prepared for the role by listening to audio tapes of Clinton and reading books about her.[10] She also watched video clips of her on YouTube and tried to "get the flavor of her speech across" without directly imitating her accent. Davis told The New York Times, "...she's hard to imitate. Her accent has changed a bit over the years. In 1992, when she became first lady, she had quite a bit of Arkansas still in her speech from her 13 years there. That's really gone now. So her accent has kind of shifted over time but she's lived in very different places."[11] To accurately portray Clinton's appearance, Davis was fitted with a wig, false teeth and wore specially tailored brightly colored pantsuits.[11] Quaid predicted that Davis would receive a lot of attention for her portrayal: "She really looks like Hillary with the puffed up hair and some hip additives".[12] Julianne Moore was originally cast in the role, but was forced to quit less than two weeks before principal photography began, due to commitments to the film The Kids Are All Right.[13][14]
  • Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair. McCrory reprises her role as Blair's wife from The Queen. When playing Cherie in The Queen, McCrory found there was little information about her because as Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Cherie did not give interviews or make herself public. Since 2006, Cherie's autobiography has been published, meaning McCrory did not have to rely on hearsay to learn about her.[15] McCrory had already briefly met Cherie. Her husband Damian Lewis recommended that she should meet her again to research the role, but McCrory decided not to, telling The Sunday Times, "The problem is, if you've met somebody, you have a responsibility to them. I don't think it's fair to ask her about Stormont, or Kosovo, or Matrix Chambers... then it not be in the film. At the end of the day, it's not my Cherie Blair, it's Peter Morgan's Cherie Blair."[16]

Adam Godley plays Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff, who plays a role in the Northern Ireland peace process endorsed by Blair and Clinton.[citation needed] Ten-year-old actor Max Cottage portrays the Blairs' eldest son Euan.[17] President of France Jacques Chirac (1995–2007) is portrayed by Marc Rioufol.[18] The producers were having difficulty casting the part in March.[19] Mark Bazeley reprises his role of Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell from The Queen, and background actor Chris Wilson portrays Blair's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. David Morrissey, who played Brown in The Deal, was asked to reprise the role, but declined because Brown appears in only one scene.[20] Instead of the producers casting an actress to play Monica Lewinsky, archive footage is used.[8]

Production

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Peter Morgan's first production featuring Michael Sheen as Tony Blair was the Channel 4 single drama The Deal (2003), which dramatized the rise of Gordon Brown (David Morrissey) and Blair when they were new Members of Parliament. The drama depicted their rise in the Labour Party culminating in the 1994 leadership election. The Deal's critical success led to a theatrical film, The Queen (2006), about the impact of the death of Princess Diana on senior members of the Royal Family and Prime Minister Tony Blair. The film featured Sheen as Blair in a supporting role, in what critics noted was a more subdued portrayal than in The Deal.[12][21] Before Morgan began writing the script for The Special Relationship in late 2007, there was speculation that the film would be produced by Left Bank Pictures and BBC Films, where the Deal and Queen producers Andy Harries and Christine Langan were based; Langan told guardian.co.uk in October 2007 that Morgan had "promised" the script to her and Harries, though no contracts had been signed.[21][22]

Three films about Blair had been planned since The Deal.[23] Morgan had considered writing a film about Blair during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as the subject matter for both the second and third film.[23] He eventually decided to do a film about the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, specifically Blair's differing relationship with Clinton and George W. Bush.[12] Harries said that Morgan believed the transition from Clinton's to Bush's presidency was a "pivotal moment" in the special relationship.[23] Morgan decided to narrow down the scope of the film to just Blair and Clinton, since he believed people tended to have forgotten about the state of politics prior to the September 11 attacks, a time that was "really, really interesting".[9] Langan believed that Morgan found Clinton to be "a more interesting study than Bush" and that New Labour aped the Clinton administration at its inception.[19] Morgan began his research into the Blair/Clinton relationship after learning that the two had been alone together when Al Gore conceded defeat after the 2000 presidential election. His research took him to Washington, D.C., where he interviewed members of Clinton's cabinet, and Clinton's hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.[3]

In late 2008, Kathleen Kennedy signed on as an executive producer. Ann Wingate, Frank Doelger and Tracey Scoffield are producers, and Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Kennedy are executive producers. HBO Films is producing, with co-production funding coming from BBC Films.[13][24] Morgan signed on to direct the film—making his directorial debut—as the director of The Deal and The Queen Stephen Frears was "Blaired out".[8][9][23] In June 2009, shortly before filming began, Morgan pulled out of directing the film.[24] Morgan's agent told a Daily Telegraph diary that Morgan wanted to concentrate on writing and producing, but did not rule out directing in future.[25] Costumes were designed by Consolata Boyle, whose work on The Queen won acclaim and awards.[26] After a week of read-throughs and rehearsals, filming began on 20 July 2009[10][24] and ran until 4 September.[27] Filming locations included Langley Park, the Emirates Stadium and the Westminster Central Hall. Brocket Hall and the Loseley Park mansion doubled as Chequers, the Prime Minister's country retreat.[28] Scenes set in the Oval Office were filmed on a set built on E Stage at Pinewood Studios. E Stage also housed a recreation of the White House gardens and colonnade outside the Oval Office.[28][29] Several other locations were used, in conjunction with the UK Film Council's regional agencies Film London, Screen East, and Screen South.[30]

Loncraine continued directing pick-ups into October; background scenes were shot in Washington, D.C., on locations including Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue.[31] During post-production, cinematographer Barry Ackroyd created two versions of the film with different aspect ratios; one has a 16:9 aspect for broadcast on HBO in the United States, and the other has a 1: 2.35 aspect for worldwide theatrical release. After filming the cinema version in the larger format, Ackroyd trimmed the picture for the television version using a pan and scan technique.[28] The film's score was composed by Alexandre Desplat, who also worked on the music for The Queen.[2] Final post-production mixing was carried out at Twickenham Film Studios, and was scheduled for completion in the second week of March 2010.[32]

Release

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In the United States and Canada, HBO first broadcast the film on 29 May 2010.[1][33] Roadshow Films released the film theatrically in Australia on 5 August 2010 after acquiring the rights at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[34][35] The film debuted at eighth position at the box office in its opening weekend, taking $169,214.[36]

BBC Two broadcast the film in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2010, as part of a drive to screen more BBC Films productions on the station.[37][38] It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 20 September 2010.[39]

Critical reception

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The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% out of 21 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.8/10.[40] Metacritic gave it a rating of 67 and stated it has received "generally favorable reviews".[41]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2010
 Artios Awards Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Movie/Mini Series Nina Gold Nominated [42]
Online Film & Television Association Awards Best Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated [43]
Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Dennis Quaid Nominated
Michael Sheen Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Hope Davis Nominated
Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated
Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries Nominated
Best Editing in a Non-Series Nominated
Best Makeup/Hairstyling in a Non-Series Nominated
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Made for Television Movie Christine Langan, Kathleen Kennedy,
Frank Marshall, Peter Morgan,
Andy Harries, Frank Doelger,
Tracey Scoffield, and Ann Wingate 		Nominated [44]
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Dennis Quaid Nominated
Michael Sheen Nominated
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Hope Davis Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Peter Morgan Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture Made for Television Nominated [45]
Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Dennis Quaid Nominated
Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Hope Davis Nominated
Women's Image Network Awards Actress in a Mini-Series / Made for Television Movie Nominated [46]
2011
 British Academy Television Awards Best Single Drama Production Team Nominated [47]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Dennis Quaid Nominated [48]
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Hope Davis Nominated
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Best Music Supervision for Movie of the Week Evyen Klean (Also for The Pacific,
Temple Grandin, and You Don't Know Jack) 		Won [citation needed]
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries Dennis Quaid Nominated [49]

References

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  1. ^ a b Blair and Clinton: The HBO Movie. Wall Street Journal. Updated 28 May 2010. Retrieved on 20 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b Langan, Christine (14 February 2010). "My week: Christine Langan". The Observer (Guardian News & Media): p. 49.
  3. ^ a b Goldstein, Patrick (25 July 2008). "Peter Morgan has a bigger deal in mind". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company): p. E1.
  4. ^ Lee, Luane (17 May 2010). "Michael Sheen takes on Tony Blair for the third time". McClatchy-Tribune News Service (published on KansasCity.com). Retrieved on 18 May 2010.
  5. ^ Jenel Smith, Stacy (12 May 2010). "Dennis Quaid Spills Secrets of How He Put on Bill Clinton Pounds". PopEater.com. Retrieved on 12 May 2010.
  6. ^ a b Tschiedert, Markus (11 September 2009). "Dennis Quaid (55): "Ich bin so dankbar, heute noch im Geschäft zu sein"" (in German). Presse Portal. Retrieved on 12 September 2009.
  7. ^ Thompson, Bob (23 September 2009). "Dennis Quaid's new film is out of this world". Canwest News Service. Retrieved 24 September 2009 – via Canada.com.[dead link‍]
  8. ^ a b c Shoard, Catherine (25 March 2009). "Peter Morgan returns to Tony Blair for The Special Relationship". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News & Media). Retrieved on 25 March 2009.
  9. ^ a b c Fitzherbert, Henry (22 March 2009). "I captured Clough's soul...". Sunday Express (Express Newspapers): pp. 40–41.
  10. ^ a b c Sperling, Nicole (9 July 2009). "Hope Davis talks about gearing up to play Hillary Clinton Archived 2009-07-14 at the Wayback Machine". EW.com. Retrieved on 14 July 2009.
  11. ^ a b Iztkoff, Dave (27 August 2009). "Being Hillary Rodham Clinton". ArtsBeat (The New York Times Company). Retrieved on 27 August 2009.
  12. ^ a b c Thompson, Anne (15 December 2008). "Peter Morgan retackles Tony Blair" (subscription access). Variety.com (Reed Business Information). Retrieved on 25 March 2009.
  13. ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (24 March 2009). "HBO movie taking on Clintons, Blair". The Hollywood Reporter (Nielsen Business Media). Retrieved on 25 March 2009.
  14. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (8 July 2009). "Hope Davis to play Hillary Clinton" (subscription access). The Hollywood Reporter (Nielsen Business Media). Retrieved on 8 July 2009.
  15. ^ Randall, Lee (11 July 2009). "The Lee Randall Interview: Helen McCrory, actress". The Scotsman (The Scotsman Publications): p. 10.
  16. ^ White, Lesley (12 July 2009). "Cheeky girl". The Sunday Times Magazine (Times Newspapers): pp. 6–8.
  17. ^ Archard, Michael (3 August 2009). "Ten-year-old cast as Tony Blair's son in new film". Echo (Essex: Newsquest).
  18. ^ "Jacques Chirac au cinéma, ce sera lui". Le Parisien. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  19. ^ a b Jones, Sam (26 March 2009). "Tony Blair biopic: Screenwriter of The Deal and The Queen lines up final instalment". The Guardian (Guardian News & Media): p. 13.
  20. ^ Staff (4 March 2010). "David Morrissey: Actor-turned-director finds time to help make world a better place". Express.co.uk (Express Newspapers). Retrieved on 10 July 2010.
  21. ^ a b Harries, Andy. Interview with John Mair Archived 2012-07-13 at archive.today (25 April 2007). Coventry Conversations. Coventry University Podcasting Service. Retrieved on 2 March 2008.
  22. ^ Dowell, Ben (2 October 2007). "BBC Films to be restructured". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News & Media). Retrieved on 16 December 2008.
  23. ^ a b c d Dawtrey, Adam (1 October 2007). "Morgan prepares 'Queen' sequel" (subscription access). Variety.com (Reed Business Information). Retrieved on 25 March 2009.
  24. ^ a b c Andreeva, Nellie (23 June 2009). "Peter Morgan leaves 'Relationship'" (subscription access). The Hollywood Reporter (Nielsen Business Media). Retrieved on 23 June 2009.
  25. ^ Walker, Tim (24 June 2009). "Mandrake: Relationship counselling not required on Peter Morgan's new film Special Relationship". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 6.
  26. ^ Staff (20 July 2009). "Boyle Working on 'The Special Relationship'". Irish Film & Television Network. Retrieved on 20 July 2009.
  27. ^ Staff (17 August 2009). "Production: The Special Relationship" (subscription access). ScreenDaily.com (Emap Media). Retrieved on 30 August 2009.
  28. ^ a b c Falk, Quentin (November 2009). "The Corridors of Power Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine" (.pdf). Exposure (Fujifilm UK) (46): p. 27.
  29. ^ "Staging 'The Special Relationship'[permanent dead link‍]". Pinewood Studios. Retrieved on 1 September 2009.
  30. ^ "Made in the UK: The Special Relationship". UK Film Council. Retrieved on 11 April 2010.
  31. ^ Godbee, Eden (2 October 2009). "Film Crew Pops Up on Constitution Ave.". NBCWashington.com. Retrieved on 4 October 2009.
  32. ^ Staff (3 March 2010). "The Special Relationship[permanent dead link‍]". Twickenham Film Studios. Retrieved on 10 March 2010. "Final mixing in Dubbing Theatre 1 on "The Special Relationship" directed by Richard Loncraine for Rainmark Films / HBO Films / BBC Films, due to complete next week."
  33. ^ Levine, Stuart (24 March 2010). "'Relationship' set for May 29 debut" (subscription access). Variety.com (Reed Business Information). Retrieved on 26 March 2010.
  34. ^ "The Special Relationship". Village Cinemas. Retrieved on 11 July 2010.
  35. ^ Bodey, Michael (24 June 2009). "Saharan doco whips up a storm". The Australian (News Ltd): p. 10 (Features section).
  36. ^ Reynolds, Simon (9 August 2010). "'Inception' retains Aus BO chart lead". Digital Spy. Retrieved on 10 August 2010.
  37. ^ BBC Press Office (2 September 2010). "Network TV BBC Week 38: Saturday 18 September 2010". Press release. Retrieved on 2 September 2010.
  38. ^ Clarke, Steve (14 July 2010). "BBC backs Live Aid telepic". Variety.com (Reed Business Information). Retrieved on 14 July 2010.
  39. ^ "The Special Relationship". British Video Association. Retrieved on 13 August 2010.
  40. ^ The Special Relationship. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  41. ^ "The Special Relationship Archived 2010-11-07 at the Wayback Machine". Metacritic. Retrieved on 5 June 2010.
  42. ^ "2010 Artios Awards". www.castingsociety.com. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  43. ^ "14th Annual TV Awards (2009-10)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  44. ^ "The Special Relationship". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  45. ^ "2010 Satellite Awards". Satellite Awards. International Press Academy. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  46. ^ "Glee, Claire Danes, Sally Hawkins, Jane Lynch, Susan Sarandon, Maggie Smith et al. Receive WIN Nominations". TheaterMania.com. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  47. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Television in 2011". BAFTA. 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  48. ^ "The Special Relationship – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  49. ^ "The 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
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