interview - MERYL STREEP

Don’t be Afraid. It’s Just Meryl...

Hollywood legend Meryl Streep says young actors are often nervous about working with her. Of course, that wasn’t a problem on her new political drama Lions for Lambs, which co-stars fellow heavyweights Tom Cruise and Robert Redford

With two Oscars, 14 nom­­inations and countless other prizes to her name, 58-year-old Meryl Streep is considered by many to be the best actress of her generation. And while she appreciates the reputation, she claims it has very little practical effect on her life. Except, that is, for one recurring situation.

“The only time it becomes an issue is when I work with other actors who think more of me than I deserve,” Streep says in a recent L.A. interview.

While many actors do admit to being intimidated the first time they work with Streep (who won those Oscars for Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer), she says it’s not an issue for long. “I’m usually aware when someone is nervous by just being around me, but when we begin filming, when I forget my lines the first time, everybody’s anxiety level goes down quickly and they start going, ‘Hmm, she’s the greatest what?’” Streep says with a laugh.

“I think that a lot of other actors feel nervous the day before, but they’re not so after they meet me because I’m not doing anything particularly special to make them nervous,” continues Streep. “After you work in the morning, and go through the scenes, it’s really about listening, talking, feeling and being available in the moment. They realize I’m an actor just like they are.”

Working with nervous newcomers wasn’t something Streep had to worry about for her latest film, Lions For Lambs, as she stars opposite Tom Cruise and Robert Redford, the latter of whom also directed the complicated political drama.

“When you know that you are working in the company of seasoned professionals it brings the stress level way down,” says Streep. “It’s incredible whenever you can work with actors who are not fighting or struggling with you, or are just there because they have to be. Instead, they are there to give the best performance they can and the magic that you can create with these actors is what makes you get up at five in the morning, sometimes miles and miles from home.”

The first film released by United Artists under Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s reign, Lions for Lambs tells the story of Dr. Stephen Malley (Redford), an idealistic professor at a California college who tries to inspire his students to follow their beliefs and do something important with their lives.

Two of Malley’s favourite students, Arian (Derek Luke) and Ernest (Michael Peña), decide to make their lives count by joining the armed forces and heading to Afghanistan, only to find themselves in an even worse situation than they’d expected. Feeling guilty and responsible for Arian and Ernest’s decision, Dr. Malley tries to inspire another student, the rich, apathetic Todd (Andrew Garfield). In the meantime, across the country in D.C., charismatic Senator and Presidential hopeful Jasper Irving (Cruise) is planning to give investigative reporter Janine Roth (Streep) an exclusive report that could have severe consequences for American soldiers, including Arian and Ernest.

“If a film has a political engine within it, then it just has to be a really good film, otherwise no one wants to sit through it,” says Streep. “I feel like we made a really great, timely human drama. You can call it political if you want, but I think it’s more than that. It surpasses any single genre.”

Claiming her scenes with Cruise were some of the most satisfying of her career, Streep insists her performance was largely the result of Redford’s instruction. “His eye is so acute that he can recognize the smallest nuance,” she says. “If a line wasn’t read the way it should be, many directors would just let it go, but he would say, ‘No that sounded too direct. There was an indirect way you did it on the other take,’ so you knew he was really listening closely to everything we said.”

Known for getting into arguments with directors, Streep says she and Redford had several discussions about her character, but none of them ever became heated. “I’m still argumentative with directors because it’s just my nature,” Streep says, smiling. “Bob and I didn’t have any problems, we would all just spend a lot of time talking about making the movie better.

“As an actor, though, if you have a point of view no one is going to care unless you express it,” she adds. “I don’t hate it when people tell me things. I like it. I like the exchange. Otherwise, what are you doing here?”

Streep admits that, at first, she considered passing on the project. But she says that was only part of a ritual that she goes through before she chooses a role.

“I have varying degrees of confidence and self-loathing,” Streep says with a chuckle. “Often I have a doubt about whether I can do the role. I always say to my husband [sculptor Don Gummer], ‘No, I never felt like this before,’ and he goes, ‘You always do this. Always.’ I say, ‘No, this is the first time that I’ve ever felt this way,’ and he says, ‘No, you dismantle yourself before you begin, this is what you do, this is your process.’ I say, ‘This is not a process, this is a real feeling that I know that I can’t do this.’”

So Streep understands how insecurity can cause so many personal and career meltdowns, especially among young actors. As an example, she brings up 21-year-old Lindsay Lohan, with whom she starred in  Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion.

“I was shocked by the way she was treated by the media,” Streep says. “The press were just constantly around her, and all I could see was the millions of dollars being made off this girl just going to a club. She was 18 when we were making the film, and she turned 19 on our set. Three of my children are older than she is, and I have a certain amount of sympathy for the fact that her mistakes are all made in public and people make millions of dollars off of it.”

Unlike her younger counterparts, Streep — who’s currently filming the screen version of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! — claims she’s never made a career decision she regrets. Or, if she has, she says she’s blocked them out.

Compromises, however, are another story.

“I’ve made all sorts of compromises practically every single day — sometimes whether or not to shower because you just don’t have the time. If you have a thickly populated home life and a career that’s demanding, something always comes up short. I’ve always felt stretched to the max, but also very, very lucky and nourished by both things, my family and my career.”

Just two years shy of 60, unlike many actresses her age, Streep doesn’t feel like she’s being put out to pasture. In fact, she’s busier than she’s been in decades.

After Mamma Mia! wraps, Streep has five more movies on her slate, including a role as Martha Mitchell in the Watergate movie Dirty Tricks, another as the president in First Man, and she’ll play a nun in Doubt.

“I don’t know if I’m just one of the lucky ones, but aging has given me a career boost,” insists Streep. “It’s all gone by pretty fast for me. It wasn’t that long ago when I was that young actress nervous about working with a famous actor. I remember I was so nervous to work with Robert De Niro [in The Deer Hunter] and I came away after the first day of work and someone asked me, ‘God, what was it like?’ I said, ‘It was easy.’ And you know what? It’s been like that ever since.”

Earl Dittman is a Houston-based writer.

OSCAR APPEAL

Playing a character with an accent:
•    Sarah Woodruff (The French Lieutenant’s Woman)
•    Sophie Zawistowski (Sophie’s Choice)
•    Baroness Karen Blixen (Out of Africa)
•    Lindy Chamberlain (A Cry in the Dark)
•    Francesca Johnson (The Bridges of Madison County)

Playing a character who dies:
•    Sophie Zawistowski (Sophie’s Choice)
•    Karen Silkwood (Silkwood)
•    Helen Archer (Ironweed)
•    Kate Gulden (One True Thing)

Other nominations:
•    Linda (The Deer Hunter)
•    Joanna Kramer (Kramer vs. Kramer)
•    Suzanne Vale (Postcards from the Edge)
•    Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada)

—Ingrid Randoja