If you remember a time without the internet, there were old-fashioned ways to gather information. One was the local library, scanning shelves for books related to films. Like many kids of my generation, I first saw Meryl Streep in “Death Becomes Her” on VHS and enjoyed the film a lot. I would catch her name flipping through the tv guides and watched “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” – a stark contrast to the former film. “Silkwood” followed, and by the time I watched “A Cry in the Dark”, I was hooked. How was it possible that the same person played all these different parts? Discovering Meryl Streep was an integral part of understanding the art of filmmaking and that acting was a profession, which intertwined with the (very limited) availability of the internet around that time. You would pay by the minute and browse Yahoo! directories. One of the topics was Entertainment, and there was in fact a Meryl Streep fansite. MSO, for Meryl Streep Online, was probably one of the first websites I’ve visited, and I was stunned to have information at your fingertips, in an illustrated way. Since my school english was very limited at the time, and through my interest in websites and the desire to create one myself, I decided to open a German speaking site on Meryl Streep. Unfortunately, I cannot remember its title back then, or it’s exact opening date – the Internet Archive lists its first tracking in October 1999.

In 2006, “The Devil Wears Prada” hit theaters. Before its release, I thought this was below Streep’s abilites. A romantic comedy with Anne Hathaway? Why not a great modern classic with De Niro or Pacino? How wrong I was. “Prada” brought one crucial aspect to Streep’s career that had been missing for the past 30 years – box office success. Suddenly, she was not only revered for the performances of her past – she was hot property! Two years later, “Mamma Mia!” broke records at the box office and turned her name into a commodity to open movies. The films that followed – “Julie & Julia”, “It’s Complicated” and “The Iron Lady” – all scored big numbers. Those were exciting years on Simply Streep – and to witness this her unexpected success later in her life. Unexpected, because of her chosen projects. After years of serious drama and accents (and criticism for being too technical in her work), Meryl Streep seemingly stopped caring and let loose. She was having a ball doing those lighter films, and it paid off for her big time. The “Streep renaissance” culminated in winning the Academy Award in 2012 for “The Iron Lady”. Funnily enough – as you may consider this the key moment of Streep’s later career – I wasn’t able to watch it, because I was starting a new job the following day and couldn’t stay up.

Things cooled down after her Oscar win – which might be an understatement because since then, no article opens without the inevitable “greatest actress of all time”. But Streep’s work has changed in the last 10 years. The serious stuff hasn’t come by that often, most of the prestigious films, like “August: Osage County”, have been very underwhelming, and I’ve never been fond of musicals, so some coverages have been more fun than others. So in the recent years my focus have shifted to archiving the past. The internet has exploded and many archives have been opened. Creating an archive on such an impeccable career has indeed become my main passion. And, looking back, I find it astonishing how much research material I have been able to collect with the help of many, many wonderful contributors. But the internet has changed in another way as well. Information nowadays are consumed on social media. Fansites have become a small retro niche. I’ve never managed to “run” Simply Streep on social media accounts to attract more followers or turn it into some kind of brand. That’s not its purpose and I’m happy to see that visitors still find and appreciate it. Sometimes, people write me that they visit Simply Streep since their first steps on the internet – just like I did those 25 years ago. I couldn’t think of a better compliment.

None of what you see and find on Simply Streep was done by a single person. Early on, I had the great fortune to meet wonderful people online with shared interests and passion that would elevate the work on Simply Streep to a whole different level. It would be impossible to list them all, let me try to squeaze in as many as possible: A fellow German named Anke who encouraged me to work on the German fansite back when the only available online communication were Yahoo! Groups. She has played a very important part in the site for many years – and when her online attention fizzled, she made sure I would get all the material she had collected over the years. Another integral person is Alvaro, who has become a steady contributor of the rarest finds and current magazine appearances – and who has become a dear friend to me for probably 20 years now. Simply Streep would most certainly not be as comprehensive and as accurate as it is without his support. To both of you, thank you very much. This site would not be what it is without you. Then, the many contributors who send in news on a regular base for years, among them Glenn, Frank, Simona, Jess, Tina, and many others. It has made my time management so much easier. The many “officials” I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years who would send in material to promote upcoming films and books and who would share some great material along the way – especially Michael Schulman, who has published “Her Again” some years ago. His research was an amazing source on Meryl Streep’s early theater work. All the former fansite hosts, only a few of us have made it this far. It has always been a pleasure supporting each others passion projects. And, of course, to all the visitors, who make this work worthwile. Thank you all very much. Frederik.

1. After 25 years, who’s the person running the site?
As much I have made sure over the years to keep Meryl Streep’s private life out of this website, I’ve never felt the need to share anything about myself – it’s simply not about me. I’m sure that through writing here for so long, you might get an idea of my personal taste, there are also personal reviews on her work on the film sites, but that’s as far as it should go, which I’m perfectly happy with.

2. Have you ever been in contact with Meryl Streep? Does she know the site?
No and no. I have never intended to be in contact with Meryl Streep or make the site known to her management. I think it must be very scary to have your whole professional life covered. My interest has always been in her work, not in her person, which none of us knows anyway. The closest I’ve ever come to knowing she would know about Simply Streep was years back when I worked on the “activism and charity” pages and contacted Equality Now, asking if they might write a summary about Meryl’s involvement. They replied that they had to check back with her first to get permission – and then forwarded me a wonderful summary for the site a couple of days later.

3. Are fansites still a thing?
They’re probably not, but I find them more important than ever. These days, it has become incredibly hard to find valuable information online. Most of our search results are based on algorithms spurting out AI generated garbage or clickbait. It’s the complete opposite to the site’s beginning when it was impossible to find any information at all. So in this sense, Simply Streep has survived both periods and remains a solid source for information, which has been its main intent from the beginning.

4. What are your favorite Meryl Streep films?
I’m stunned time again by her total immersion in “A Cry in the Dark”. It remains a master class in acting. I have a soft spot for “Marvin’s Room”. It’s little-seen and long forgotten, but I thoroughly enjoyed her bad-mood-sister, who, behind the snark, is a deeply unhappy person. Also, “Angels in America” remains one of the most incredible things I have seen on tv. Everyone is on top of their games and Meryl’s collection of characters – finding humor in a tragic figure like Ethel Rosenberg – still stands out as one of her greatest achievements. Other than that, pretty much everything she has done in the ’80s.

5. Are we going to celebrate the site’s 50th anniversary as well?
Wouldn’t that be nice? I have to say I’ve rarely thought about closing the site indefinately. So much work has been poured into it. Of course, much has changed in the past 25 years. I live a very happy and demanding life offline – but surprisingly, maintaining Simply Streep has never stood in the way. So let’s see where this is going.