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THE PRIME OF MS. MERYL STREEP
Magazine / Source: Philippine Daily Inqurier, November 2005 |
LOS ANGELES--IF YOU EVER FIND yourself talking to Meryl Streep, beware--she may be mentally noting your mannerisms. She may use your tics to flesh out a screen character someday.
"I'm looking at everybody here all the time and I guess I do store it up," Meryl Streep admitted, laughing.
Hmmm, imagine being observed by the actress (on the sly, of course). And imagine your body language someday surfacing in yet another award-winning Meryl Streep performance.
While Meryl said on this recent press con, "I felt more confident then because I had the arrogance of youth," she is really at the prime of her acting career. At 56, she is the greatest actress of her generation and certainly one of the finest film, TV and stage thespians ever.
Speaking in that distinctive, melodious voice, Meryl in person was just as expressive with her face, eyes and hands. When the multi-awarded actress complained that her husband, sculptor Donald J. Gummer, "was out of town" during their
recent wedding anniversary, she mustered a mock look of indignation/hurt/exasperation. It was like having a front row seat to a play starring her.
When I congratulated her on this 27th anniversary and asked if it's a constant struggle to make the marriage last this long (by show biz standards), she looked at me and quipped with a mock growl, "It's a war." The union is apparently solid but Ms. Streep likes to tease her husband.
Meryl stars in "Prime," a charming comedy in which she plays a therapist who encourages her patient, a 37-year-old fashion stylist (Uma Thurman), to enjoy a romance with a 23-year-old lover, Bryan Greenberg. Uma's divorced, non-practicing Catholic confesses everything about her young boyfriend, including his "beautiful" anatomy, until Meryl's traditional Jewish mother realizes that her patient's paramour is none other than her son. Ben Younger, whose mother is Jewish and a therapist, directs this romantic comedy set in Manhattan.
Smiling, relaxed but an earnest interviewee, Meryl is just as fascinating in our second encounter with her.
You have children who probably bring home their dates. Do you let them know your preferences?
Not really. They're older. They're 26, 22 and 19 and the 14-year-old is too young (to be dating) so I have a breather right now. I don't get a vote on the older ones and the younger ones. I have been lucky. They've chosen friends whom I really like. I think I'd have a heart attack if I had to go through this (like in the movie).
What do you think of the older woman-younger man pairing?
There's still much more of a stigma in that. But if it were reversed, if the girl were 23 and the man were 37 or if the girl were 23 and the man were 47 or if the girl were 23 and the man were 57 (laughter) or if the girl were 23 and the man were 67 (laughter), we would still accept it. If it were a 77-year-old man with a very young woman, maybe we're pushing it. I just think that love is hard to find and when you find it, you're lucky.
It's refreshing to hear you say in a magazine interview that doing comedy is actually easier than drama.
Yeah, it's a very little secret (laughter). It's easier. Kathy Bates said, I don't have to put my tits in the wringer (laughter). I don't wear it more heavily at the end of the day. It's just more fun to go home when the whole crew laughed at you all day. It feels good. But it is hard when the comedy isn't working. The thing about this script is, the humor isn't in the jokes. There aren't a lot of little taglines. It has to do with situation and character. What makes it funny is the humanity of the people and just seeing them in the situations that the director and screenwriters have devised. So that's what's funny--the characters.
How would you describe somebody who is in his prime?
Prime is the state when you are happy and you feel that things are going well for you. That can really happen at any age. It can happen when you're 8 and I've known people in their 80s who are that way and so I don't think it's defined by a certain age.
How about you? Do you feel you are in your prime?
I feel pretty happy. I feel a little beleaguered by all the things that I have to do but that's a function of how I've always felt (laughing). I've always felt that way since I started getting homework when I was a kid. I'm a very big daydreamer. I just like to have days sort of open up and I don't have to be anywhere. That hasn't happened in a long time.
What kind of religious or spiritual education did you give to your children? And what advice did you give them about marriage and family, especially in these times when more people seem to be divorcing?
To answer your second question first, people are diverted by thinking that just because there are so many divorces now, that's evidence of society falling apart. All that has really changed is that people now have a way out. People used to stay in marriages where they were being beaten up or somebody was a complete drunk or hitting the kids. People would stay in those marriages in the old days. As for the first question, I exposed the kids to different religions. I don't follow one discipline or attend one institutional setting.
Do you think that marriage is still a valuable institution?
Yes, I do. I just had my 27th anniversary yesterday and he (her husband) was out of town (laughter). It was sort of a problem but yes, I do believe in marriage. It has worked fairly well. We have a big family. I don't know how people would do that by themselves. Crazy.
Twenty years ago, what kind of movies did you want to be in?
I can't even remember the movies I have made (laughter). I am not that greedy at this point.
Uma told us that she was very nervous the night before she was going to work with you. Do you ever get nervous meeting somebody whom you revere and how do you overcome that nervousness?
Oh yes, I get nervous all the time. I get nervous at the parent-teacher conferences (laughter). I get nervous when I have to go meet the Mayor of New York. I am always nervous basically but that's a valuable thing. By the way, actresses like to be nervous. Uma liked being nervous to work with me because it helped her in that first scene. She's supposed to be overwrought and nuts and sometimes we use our precarious emotional lives to advantage. Otherwise you would not be actors. It's good that we're actresses and that we get nervous and uncertain. It's a very good thing and useful in our work.
Bryan described you as being so supportive and your generosity is legendary. But I remember when you were very much younger and you were combative with directors.
Oh, you're terrifying me. I was maybe bossy with directors but only on my own behalf of what I felt was true for the script or something and never with other actors. With directors, I am still argumentative. It's my nature and the way we conduct our family--if you have a point of view, nobody is going to care if you don't express it. Nobody is going to know what it is so you have a responsibility to express yourself. I don't hate it when people tell me things. I like it. I like the exchange. Otherwise, what are you doing here?
When you walk on the street, do you observe the behavior of people and store it in your memory?
Yes, I do. I never stop looking at everybody, secretly. I'm looking at everybody here (laughing) all the time and I guess I do store it up. I find people very interesting. It's an unconscious kind of observation. I don't want to know about how it works. If I know how it works, I'll become self-conscious and I don't want to do that. I'm fortunately forgetting everything all the time so (laughing) that helps me as an actor. I don't know where I pick things up.
Do you sometimes feel that you have been applauded or celebrated for a performance that you yourself are not satisfied with and that it has gotten to the point where Meryl Streep can do no wrong?
There are different predators lying in wait for my performance, not other peoples' performances. Maybe I have more tools now to understand how to approach a part than I did when I was 27 but I felt more confident then because I had the arrogance of youth and all that stuff. Is there one performance that I felt was praised and I don't think it was deserved? Every single one of my performances (laughing). There are things I would change in them. I hope no one notices (laughing). I don't have one that I despise.
Are you surprised that your acting career has lasted this long?
People get sick of you. It's a long career. It's like 30 years. People go, ugh, her again and I understand that. But it's now about the work of acting and to see how far, how deep and how rich this stew can be. I am always surprised that they still give me work. I'm really surprised because there's not a lot of older women working so I'm happy when these scripts come along.
How do you make your fellow actors relax when they are acting alongside you?
They feel nervous the day before but then they come in--they're not so nervous after they meet me. I am not doing anything in particular special to make them not nervous. I'm aware of it but it's just like oh, after you work in the morning and go through the thing, it's just listening really--talking, feeling and being available in the moment. I remember I was so nervous to work with Robert De Niro and then I came away after the first day of work and somebody said God, what was it like? And I said it was easy. When the actor is really good, it's easy because they're not fighting you or struggling. They're just sitting in the chair with you and it's an exchange, you know.
