I love Michael Sheen. Very few people know who this amazing actor is because he hasn’t had his big break in America yet. However, he is very well known across the pond for one major reason: Tony Blair. There are three films where he played the British Prime Minister: The Deal (2003, TV), The Queen (2006), and lately The Special Relationship (2010, TV).
The Deal is about Tony Blair’s relationship with Member of Parliament (MP) Gordon Brown and how the Labour Party grew in the UK to beat the Conservative Party. This film is good in many different aspects, but most importantly the acting. This film is hard to find on DVD but it is on Youtube in its entirety. If you have an hour and a half to two hours to spare, I would recommend looking this up and watching Michael Sheen’s first go around as Blair.
The Queen was well known for Helen Mirren’s portrayal as Queen Elizabeth II. Academies and other award associations gave their awards to Mirren but poor Michael Sheen was left in the dust. This film is about the relationship between the queen and the newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The whole film takes place during the time of Princess Diana’s death. It is a powerful story with a well written script and extraordinary cast. I would also recommend this film.
The last of what has been called, “The Blair Trilogy” is The Special Relationship, which discusses the relationship of Blair and President Bill Clinton. This just aired on HBO so I did not get a chance to see it, but I hear it is worth seeing Dennis Quaid as Clinton. I also would imagine Sheen would be a great as Blair, again.
All of these films were written by the same screenplay writer, Peter Morgan. After The Queen, and before The Special Relationship, he wrote two other films which also stared Michael Sheen: Frost/Nixon, and The Damned United.
Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, is about what happened to President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella; The Box, Good Night and Good Luck) after he resigned the presidency and was given a pardon. David Frost (Michael Sheen) is a talk show host from Australia who believes he would be the only person to get a confession out of Richard Nixon. A powerful film that is very informative to someone who did not live during that time. And every single actor in this movie is right for the part.
The Damned United is about Brian Clough (Michael Sheen), a football manager in England who has a professional rivalry with another football manager, Don Revie. This is another well acted film with a great British cast with Jim Broadbent (Nicholas Nickleby, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Timothy Spall (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sweeny Todd and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street).
There are other films of his that I like, such as Underworld. This film is the closest thing Michael Sheen has to a “big break” in America. He plays Lucian, a Lycan (aka werewolf) that is trying to destroy the vampire race. He doesn’t reprise his role in the second film, but in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans he comes back to play Lucian in an origin story. I would recommend seeing the first but not seeing the others.
Michael Sheen was also in a few smaller roles recently. Most memorable for me was in Alice in Wonderland as the voice of the White Rabbit. And also, he was in Twilight Saga: New Moon as the Vampire lord Aro, the leader of the Volturi.
Of all of these films I have presented to you, I would say see them all. But if you could only see one or two, I would say see The Queen and Frost/Nixon.
Next time: Dream Girls and other bad chick flicks
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