Stephen Frears in Spain

Stephen Frears is in Spain this week promoting his new film The Deal and el Pais publishes an interview with him today. According to the journalist who interviewed him, Frears answers questions politely but without enthusiasm, except when he is asked about politics and Blair - "Blair really has a strange way of choosing his friends.... Aznar, Bush, Berlusconi.... I would never choose people like that as my friends. Mind you, if you think about it, he hasn't got very many friends at all and quite frankly, as Prime Minister, he ought to have more. He could do with a good friend.... and a good therapist". The Deal is about British politics before the 1996 elections and especially about the relationship and rivalry between Blair and Gordon Brown. An actor takes the part of Blair, although Frears claims that the real Blair is an excellent actor himself: "If he wasn't such a good actor, he would probably be a much better Prime Minister. This is his great tragedy: he's so good at acting that he ends up convincing himself. I think it has got something to do with his training as a lawyer. He's used to defending cases whether or not he agrees with them morally"

This is what the Costa Blanca News makes of the recent elections here in Spain.