FILM · 2015 · UK
Suffragette
22 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (22)
- #001
Suffragette was the first film permitted to shoot inside the British Parliament since the 1950s.
- #002
Helena Bonham Carter is the great-granddaughter of H. H. Asquith, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916, at the height of the suffrage movement. He was a staunch opponent of women's voting rights.
- #003
Emmeline Pankhurst's granddaughter Helen Pankhurst and her daughter Laura have small roles in the film.
- #004
Carey Mulligan went weeks without washing her hair during the shoot and wore very little makeup to give her character a genuine feel.
- #005
The investigation of the suffrage movement was the first instance in which law enforcement used photographic surveillance of the people involved.
- #006
The list of countries by the date they granted women the right to vote, shown before the end credits, omits Finland. In 1906, Finland became the first country in Europe to grant women the right to vote and to stand for election.
- #007
Maud Watts is a fictional character, a composite of many real women who appear among the real people in the history. Edith Ellyn is also fictional; Edith is a composite of two real women named Edith Garrud and Edith New. Only Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Davison and David Lloyd George are real people.
- #008
Meryl Streep described Helena Bonham Carter as a ridiculous person. Many scenes were ruined during the shoot because the actors kept cracking up uncontrollably. Carey Mulligan said that laughter was much needed while filming such a serious movie.
- #009
Just before the end credits there is a list of countries in the order they granted women the vote, but the Isle of Man was left off the list. In 1881, the Isle of Man — a territory under the British Crown with its own government — gave property-owning women the right to vote. Emmeline Pankhurst's mother, Sophia Goulden, was born on the Isle of Man, and both Sophia and Emmeline's father Robert are buried there.
- #010
The shoes Meryl Streep (Emmeline Pankhurst) wore in the film were the same shoes she had worn in Out of Africa (1985) 30 years earlier. She was allowed to wear them because the production did not have shoes in her size.
- #011
Canada is not mentioned in the list shown before the end credits. Canadian women won the right to vote in 1914; by 1918 all Canadian women had the vote.
- #012
IMDb founder Col Needham made a brief credited appearance as a committee member.
- #013
Portugal is missing from the list shown before the end credits. Women were granted the right to vote in Portugal in 1931.
- #014
The film is set in 1912.
- #015
Carey Mulligan (Maud Watts) and Natalie Press (Emily Wilding Davison) had previously appeared together in Bleak House (2005), as Ada Clare Carstone and Caddy Jellyby Turveydrop respectively.
- #016
As of 2019, this is the only film in which IMDb founder Col Needham has played someone other than himself.
- #017
It is one of roughly half a dozen politically themed films featuring Meryl Streep. The films are: Julia (1977), Suffragette (2015), The Iron Lady (2011), Lions for Lambs (2007), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979).
- #018
Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh was originally set to produce the film through Relativity Media, which was to finance and distribute it together with Pathé, but because of Relativity's financial struggles at the time and the success of Focus Features' other film The Theory of Everything, Focus Features took over US distribution rights. Relativity and Ryan Kavanaugh left the production after Focus took over the US distribution rights.
- #019
The cast of Suffragette includes one Oscar winner, Meryl Streep, and three Oscar nominees: Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson and Carey Mulligan.
- #020
Helena Bonham Carter and Brendan Gleeson had previously appeared together in several films in the Harry Potter series.
- #021
Helena Bonham Carter and Samuel West had previously appeared together in Howards End (1992).
- #022
Although Emmeline Pankhurst was British, she is played by the American actress Meryl Streep.
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work