Exclusive: Meryl as Margaret

Meryl Streep is a dead ringer for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the cover of the new issue of Newsweek, out this week -- and we have an exclusive first look!

The new issue of the magazine delves into the British political powerhouse's rise through the ranks. Streep plays Thatcher in the new biopic The Iron Lady, and the Oscar winner tells Newsweek, "While we were making the film, people had such strong and particular and specific venom for her. It was sort of stunning. It made me all the more interested in where her humanity lay."

MORE: 'Iron Lady' Meryl Streep: 'Lucky To Be Working' 

In limited release December 30, The Iron Lady chronicles how a determined woman was able to break through the barriers of gender and class to make her mark in a male-dominated political environment in the Reagan-era 1980s.

The film opens in wide release January 13.