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EMMA & MERYL ARE ANGELS
Magazine / Source: Woman's Day, June 2004 |
Big-screen legends Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep and Al Pacino have joined forces to deliver a heavenly TV performance.
Working with Oscar winner Meryl Streep is "to be astonished every day", lauds Mike Nichols, director of Angels In America.
The renowned actress laughs that she heard of her involvement in the project - which unites her on screen for the first time with the formidable Al Pacino and English actress Emma Thompson - via her hairdresser.
"Evidently, my hairdresser/make-up man works with Emma, too, and they were putting together their ideas for Angels. Anyway, it was 'fait accomplished'," Meryl says.
"I couldn't imagine how they could possibly translate it to film. It was a terrifying proposition. I don't expect to get anything as remotely as ambitious as this piece of work again in my life."
The six-hour, $86million HBO series is based on American writer Tony Kushner's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the mid-1980s AIDS epidemic in the USA. It's a mind-bending fusion of sex, politics, religion, the supernatural and Ronald Reagan-era history.
Emma Thompson, an international ambassador for UK charity ActionAid, believes AIDS is "the greatest threat to human existence in our history" and accuses western governments of "psychotic detachment" in failing to fund the fight against HIV/AIDS.
"This is a frightening patch of time," says Emma, who plays several roles - an angel who crashes through ceilings and seduces Meryl, a nurse and a homeless woman.
"You do have to, therefore, embrace with open arms and hearts something that examines the processes of being human in an honest way [as does] Angels In America."
Meryl, too, plays multiple roles - an almost unrecognisable rabbi in early scenes, Mormon mother Hannah Pitt, an angel, and the ghost of convicted spy Ethel Rosenberg who haunts the dying days of Al Pacino's Roy Cohn, the man who ensured the controversial American was sentenced to death.
Roy Cohn, an historical figure, was a notorious attorney, power broker, communist hunter and homophobe who demanded people be told he was dying of liver cancer and not AIDS because, as Al says, "Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man who [plays] around with men."
"It was like a feast," Meryl says. "And wonderful to work with Al and the great actors."
"Once in a while," adds Al, who's never done a made-for-TV movie before, "you find a role is 'actor-proof' - that it's there; it's just to be played. It's like a great piece of music. And if you feel you have the instrument for it, in terms of the right temperament or you think you can hit some of those notes, then it's just there for you to play. If the material is there, you go with the flow, you know. If that's the thing and they're doing it on television, you do it."
Meryl, who has worked with film titans Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, was delighted to star with Al for the first time.
"It was great," she laughs. "We've known each other for 30 years and I'd never worked with him."
Why?
"She doesn't work that much," Al replies.
"His leading ladies are much younger," Meryl quips back.
Bringing Angels In America to the screen has been a labour of love for producer Cary Brokaw (The Player and Drugstore Cowboy), who at one point courted Australian director P.J. Hogan for the project. P.J. suggested shaving almost four hours from the material.
"Angels has such a balanced structure that to reduce any story throws things out of whack," Cary explains, adding that Meryl and Al worked for a fraction of their normal fee because they were so keen to be part of the project.
Angels has already been a worldwide success, winning five Golden Globes (Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress and Best TV miniseries), two Screen Actors Guild Awards and is a raging favourite for honours at the 2004 Emmys.
Story: Di Stanley
Angels In America screens on ABC TV on June 8, 9 and 10 at 8.30pm.
Many thanks to Kenny for submitting this article
