Useless Movie Trivia For
The Queen
Memorable Movie Quotes
Prince Charles: They're going back to sleep, or try anyways. My private secretary office have found a travel agency out in New York that will sell me a flight to Paris, with a hour stop over in Manchester. Perhaps now you might like to consider whether it's still an extravagance to bring back the mother of the future king of England. In one of our planes.
Trivia
Helen Mirren's performance received a five minute standing ovation at the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Helen Mirren arranged for the actors playing members of the Royal family, specifically James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms and Alex Jennings to spend a lot of time together off camera. This was done so that they would feel comfortable with each other like a real family.
Helen Mirren says transforming herself into the Queen came almost naturally after the wig and glasses, especially since she shares a default facial expression, a slightly down turned mouth, with the monarch. She also regularly reviewed film and video footage of Elizabeth and kept photographs in her trailer during production. The writer Peter Morgan says it was convincing enough that, by the end of production, crew members who had been accustomed to slouching or relaxing when they addressed her were standing straight up and respectfully folding their hands behind their backs.
The writer Peter Morgan reconstructed the events of the week after the death of Princess Diana through extensive interviews with many unnamed sources close to the Prime Minister and the royal family. Many of these sources were able to corroborate the accounts of others, giving Morgan enough information to imagine intervening scenes.
Some aspects of the characters are known to be true to their real-life counterparts. Cherie Blair's hostility to the monarchy has been widely reported, including her refusal to curtsy (said to amuse the Queen in private, as it does in the film). According to Peter Morgan, "cabbage" is an actual term of endearment Prince Phillip uses for his wife.
The jewelry Helen Mirren wears is based on actual jewels owned by Elizabeth II. Some pieces shown include: her trademark 2 or 3 strands of pearls, Queen Victoria's bow brooch (at Diana's funeral), and Queen Mary's button earrings (the large pearl earrings each topped by a tiny diamond.)
Large parts of the film are real life; it includes several of Diana's real press conferences, scenes from outside Buckingham Palace after the death of Diana (including those of flowers, and the hysterical population taking interviews), and scenes from her funeral. Therefore, many of the uncredited appearances are from Princess Diana, several broadcasters and many celebrities from the funeral (including Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and so on).
The five corgis who portray the Queen's dogs won the 2007 London Film Festival's first-ever Fido award for dogs in movies. They won "Best in World" and the "Best Historical" category. They are owned by Liz Smith, a retired UK caterer, and were "discovered" by a film scout at an obedience competition. Their names are Alice, Anna, Megan, Oliver, and Poppy.
The scenes within the Royal household were shot on 35mm film, so they would look lush and cinematic, while those within Blair's world were shot on 16mm, so they would look more like television, in order to give visual contrast between commoners and royalty.
The real Queen Elizabeth II refuses to watch this film, as she does not wish to relive "one of the worst weeks of her life."
The second time that Michael Sheen plays Tony Blair. He previously played him in The Deal and would play him for a third time in The Special Relationship.
Helen McCrory once again would play Cherie Blair in The Special Relationship (again opposite Michael Sheen as Tony Blair).
Goofs
When Blair is in his study surrounded by books using a telephone, a copy of "Carter Beats the Devil" is visible which wasn't first published in Britain until 2001. The film is set in 1997.
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When Tony Blair was on his way to the airport, three cars in the background were out of place. First, there was a W220 Mercedes S class. The W220 model was produced from late 1999 to 2006. Later, you can see a second generation Nissan Almera passing in the background. That model was produced from 2000 to 2006. Finally, a second generation Toyota Rav4 was seen passing. That model was produced from 2001 to 2005.
While in the back of his car, Tony Blair takes a call on hismobile phone from the Lord Chamberlain. Blair's handset is a Nokia 6210 which was not released until 2001 (four years after the film was set).
When the Queen drives into the river and the car gets stuck we see that on the other side of the river there is little to no road and lots of heather. When later there's a shot from above, the car is suddenly facing the side of the river where the road is clearly marked, and the heather covered bank is now behind the car.
When the Queen goes to see the trophy stag after it was shot only its head has been removed. A hunter would first have to field dress (gut) the animal where it lay and then immediately skin it once it was hanging. Also, the head was removed far too high up the neck; not enough of the cape was left for it to be mounted.
The first meeting between Blair and the Queen is fiction. A newly-elected PM is always fully briefed on protocol before meeting the Monarch.
While the Queen does drive herself on her lands, her security is always at a discreet distance; it is inconceivable that she would have to call for assistance, much less, be allowed to be stranded like the average motorist.
Box Office Info USA
Budget: £9,800,000
Opening Weekend: $122,014 (3 Screens)
Gross: $56,425,113
Filming Locations
Blairquhan Castle, Blairquhan, South Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
Brocket Hall, Lemsford, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK
(Buckingham Palace interiors)
Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, England, UK
Castle Fraser, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
(exterior)
Culzean Castle, Maybole, South Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK
(studio)
Glenfeshie Estate, Kincraig, Highland, Scotland, UK
Hôtel Intercontinental - 2 Rue de Castiglione, Paris 1, Paris, France
London, England, UK
No. 10, Downing Street, Whitehall, Westminster, London, England, UK
Paris, France
Place de la Concorde, Paris 8, Paris, France
Scotland, UK
Tunnel du Pont de l'Alma, Paris 8, Paris, France