Breaking: Blair still less cute in reality

Photo: Getty Images

The problem with a really good historical drama -- especially when it's set just a few years ago rather than in the musty moccasin-wearing past -- is how it completely destroys your ability to separate the actors who played people from their actual flawed selves.

Tony Blair announced his intended resignation today and of course all I could think about was how adorable Michael Sheen was playing him opposite Helen Mirren in The Queen.

Sheen also played Robbie Ross in Wilde -- remember, the shy and earnest young man who so eagerly seduces Oscar and pursues him, no matter how obsessed the writer was with his pretty boy toy, Bosie. And he's so damned likable and charming and smiling that it's making it hard to remember to judge Blair on his own accomplishments and failures.

Meanwhile, the rock star PR strategy that's gotten Blair this far (not that a 28 percent approval rating is something to boast about, exactly!) continues even in his exit strategies:

A memo written by Blair aides, which was disclosed in September, set out a strategy for Blair's final days, saying, "He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore."

Or maybe they could just hire Michael Sheen as a decoy!

Comments

[Leslie Doukas]

Thanks for clearing up where I'd seen Michael Sheen before - of course it was Wilde - it was torturing me! thanks, hon