'Lady' and the champ

NY, NY - DECEMBER 13: Grace Gummer and Mammie Gummer attend the "The Iron Lady" NY premiere after party at The Royalton Hotel on December 13, 2011 in NY City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage) Abi Morgan and Phyllida Lloyd flank "Iron Lady" producer Damian Jones. Meryl Streep delivers her political platform. A movie premiere is an odd place to launch a political career, but that didn't stop "The Iron Lady" helmer Phyllida Lloyd from throwing her weight behind Meryl Streep. "Meryl for president!" Lloyd enthused before the film's Gotham premiere Tuesday at the Ziegfeld.Streep, who nailed Britain's polarizing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said she prefers to reserve her political ambitions for the bigscreen. "Over my dead body!" she quipped of Lloyd's suggestion. Still, if she did decide to take a run at office, the decorated thesp has a unique platform: "My platform would be heels. I would run on platform heels. They're much better than stilettos."Screenwriter Abi Morgan summed up the film's appeal, particularly for the preem's female-heavy crowd, which included trailblazers Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem and Christiane Amanpour."Meryl and I laugh and say it's 'King Lear' for girls," said Morgan. Meanwhile, revelers ventured 10 blocks to the Royalton for an after-party, where the usual blood pudding and meat pies were replaced with shrimp, burgers and grilled veggies. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com