Sheen 'thrilled' after receiving OBE at Buckingham Palace
Michael Sheen to star in new Manic Street Preachers video
Also In The News
|
Manchester City have confirmed the signing of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry for a fee of £12 million. |  |
Wednesday, 03, Jun 2009 09:03
Acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair in The Queen, has met the monarch after receiving an OBE at Buckingham Palace.
The Welsh actor starred as Blair in television drama The Deal before playing the former prime minister in Stephen Frears' 2006 film The Queen.
And while collecting his honour from the Queen herself, the 40-year-old confirmed he will play the ex-Labour leader for a third time on screen.
"The Queen asked me what I was doing next and I was in the slightly tricky situation of saying 'I'm playing the prime minister again in a film about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton' and she said 'that must be a terribly difficult thing to do'," he told the BBC.
Dennis Quaid will portray Bill Clinton as Michael Sheen reprises his role as Tony Blair in a new television film about the two politicians entitled The Special Relationship, with Oscar nominee Julianne Moore playing ex-First Lady Hillary Clinton and British actress Helen McCrory returning to the role of Cherie Blair.
Sheen was most recently seen as football legend Brian Clough in The Damned United and is renowned for his ability to recapture the character of iconic celebrities, having also played Sir David Frost - on stage and screen - and the late Kenneth Williams.
After receiving his OBE at the palace - having been named in the New Year's Honours list - Sheen said it was a "huge honour" to have met the Queen.
"I am both thrilled and slightly mystified. But very grateful," he said.
The Port Talbot actor also suggested that the Queen and Tony Blair made an "agreement" not to watch The Queen in 2006, for which Dame Helen Mirren won the best actress Oscar.
Speaking after his investiture ceremony he said: "I heard through a fairly reliable source that there was an agreement she was not going to watch the film and Mr Blair wasn't going to watch the film either.
"There were only two people in the room when that happened and one of them told me, I'm not going to say any more than that."