The French Lieutenant's Woman is poised to tackle the Iron Lady in a dramatisation of the 17 days leading up to the 1982 Falklands War, the Hollywood Reporter suggests.

Meryl Streep is "in talks" to play Margaret Thatcher in the Film4/Pathe* collaboration, dubbed Thatcher, with Jim Broadbent also discussing the possibility of taking on Maggie's husband Denis.

The movie - penned by Brian Fillis (An Englishman in New York) - will centre around Thatcher as she "tries to save her career" prior to the conflict.

If Streep signs on the dotted line, she'll be reunited with director Phyllida Lloyd, who apparently "elicited energy and brought out youthfulness in Streep in Mamma Mia!".

Hmmm. We at the El Reg movie department have a couple of suggestions: retitle the project Thatcher! and throw in a couple of musical numbers (Rejoice! and Stick it up your Junta!), for example.

And how about Woody Allen as John Nott, with cameos from Paris Hilton and Rick Moranis as Carol and Mark Thatcher?** Works for us. ®

Bootnote

We're sure the film's producers will warmly welcome suggestions as to who might interpret Thatcher's close chum Pinochet. We're leaning towards Benicio Del Toro, if he can sing, with a sneering Alan Rickman as Galtieri.

* We were contacted after publication by representatives stressing that the film is not a BBC/Pathe co-production, as we originally stated.

** That's not necessarily respectively, in this case.