Responds to Streep comments
Kavanagh responds to Streep’s comments that MMA is “not an art”:
A lot has been made of Meryl Streep’s ‘calling out’ of Mixed Martial Arts as not being ‘the arts’. She’s 100% right, it’s sport. I was just impressed she said mixed martial arts and not ‘cage fighting’. People probably got a little defensive with the way she was clearly saying ‘the arts’ were so much superior to ‘sport’. What would we ever do without Hollywood!!? The great american writer Joseph Campbell said the closest he ever came to a truly spiritual experience was through athletics. I wouldn’t like to think of one activity better than the other – sport or art. Just do whatever you enjoy. I think people’s main issue with her teary well acted speech was that she tried to pass herself, and the rest of her ultra rich and ultra entitled liberal friends, off as ‘an outsider’. Yes Meryl, you’re just like an illegal immigrant or starving refugee. Fuck off. Just carry on adding to your 100s of millions you’ve earned from playing pretend. You’ve known nothing but extreme wealth and privilege your whole life, so don’t look down your nose at sport which has probably helped a lot more people than the expensive drama schools you attended. Happy Tuesday haha!
Coker to Streep: ‘MMA is an art’
In response to Streep’s Golden Globe’s speech where she said that MMA was not an art, Bellator MMA President Coker tweets a rebuttal and an invitation to the actress to watch a fight with him in LA.
As a martial artist and an MMA promoter, here is my open letter and #Bellator170 invite to the very talented #MerylStreep #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zostN22RAK
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) January 9, 2017
White: Streep an ‘uppity, 80-year-old-lady’
In response to Streep’s comments during her Golden Globes acceptance speech:
If all these outsiders and foreigners were kicked out of Hollywood, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.
White:
The last thing in the world I expect is an uppity, 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts…I’m not a big fan of golf, doesn’t mean people should stop watching it. If you don’t like it change the channel…Of course it’s an art. These men and women are so talented. They train their whole lives to become the best in the world, and the people who get into the UFC are the elite of the elite. Saying something stupid like that is like saying she’s not a talented actress…We have champions from all over the world, men and women. It was a completely uneducated comment.
Into the Woods
0 CommentsStreep plays The Witch, next door neighbor to The Baker and The Baker’s Wife, in this musical directed by Rob Marshall from the stage musical written by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim. The Witch has placed a curse on the house of The Baker and The Baker’s Wife and gives them three days to gather certain items she needs if they wish to have the curse reversed. Co-starring Amy Kendrick, Chris Pine, James Corden, Emily Blunt, and Johnny Depp.
This witch is quite different. Her whole reason for being is to reverse a curse that has been placed on her. She sets in motion all sorts of devices and things to reverse this curse and sets everybody’s lives into upheaval.
Entertainment Weekly cover
Streep appears on the cover of Entertainment Weekly in a series of covers to promote Disney’s upcoming musical Into the Woods. Streep plays a witch in the film, which is a twist on Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The film opens in theaters on Christmas Day.
I’ve been offered many witches over the years, starting when I was 40, and I said no to all of them. But this was really fun because it played with the notion of what witches mean. They represented age and ugliness and scary powers we don’t understand. So here’s my opportunity to say, here’s what you wish for when you’re getting old.
Oscar nomination
0 CommentsStreep is nominated for Best Actress at the 86th Academy Awards for portraying Violet Weston in August: Osage County.
I am so happy for our film that Julia and I have been nominated. We are both so proud of August: Osage County. This honor from the Academy, for which we are truly grateful, will help bring attention to our film from audiences across the country, which is thrilling.
August: Osage County
Streep plays Violet Weston, the matriarch of the Weston family, in this drama directed by John Wells. When their father goes missing, her strong willed daughters return to the Oklahoma Plains home where they were raised by this resentful, pill-popping woman. Co-starring Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Juliette Wilson, Sam Shephard, and Julianne Nicholson.
I resisted doing this initially, the part, because of that. I just thought, ‘uhhhh,’ because on so many levels — physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, Violet is enraged and/or in pain or drugged at any given time.
Wins Oscar
Streep wins the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 84th Academy Awards for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
When they called my name I had the feeling I could hear half of America going, ‘oh, no. Come on.
Oscar nomination
0 CommentsStreep is nominated for Best Actress at the 84th Academy Awards for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
I am honored to be in company with such beautiful artists, and touched deeply by my fellow actors for their generosity in giving me this acknowledgment.
The Iron Lady
Streep plays Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-1990, in this biographical drama directed by Phyllida Lloyd. An elderly Thatcher, struggling with dementia, narrates her life story by sharing memories with the imagined presence of her deceased husband. Her life unfolds from girlhood to her years in the political arena. Co-starring Jim Broadbent.
I needed much more breath than I have, after all of my expensive drama school training. I couldn’t keep up with her. … She gave one speech when she was 65 that I couldn’t have done when I was 30 years old, fresh out of drama school. Just the breath. As an actor, you’re looking at it and going, “Just the breath.” It’s fantastic.
Oscar nomination
0 CommentsStreep is nominated for Best Actress at the 82nd Academy Awards for portraying Julia Child in Julie & Julia.
I am proud and grateful to stand with these women who have given such a range of beautiful, indelible performances this year!!
It’s Complicated
Streep plays Jane Adler in this comedy directed by Nancy Meyers. Jane Adler and Jake Adler, long divorced, reignite the spark in their relationship while attending their son’s college graduation. They embark on an affair, hiding from their children and his new wife. Co-starring Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.
I don’t think if we had romped through half of this movie completely naked it would have added to the film. It’s about the intimacy of marriage and the comfort and the mess of it. It felt like what we did was exactly right.
Julie & Julia
Streep plays Julia Child in this biographical drama from Nora Ephron. As Julie Powell challenges herself to cook all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, we see her struggle interspersed with Child’s rise to cooking stardom. Co-starring Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci.
There was a whole kitchen set up at the studio and I practiced my cooking there. I could justify it because it was part of my job. I’ve been cooking roast chicken for 30 years but I’d been doing it wrong, and Julia Child has a recipe that is absolutely foolproof. It’s the difference between doing it pretty well and doing it great.
Oscar nomination
0 CommentsStreep is nominated for Best Actress at the 81st Academy Awards for portraying Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt.
Doubt
Streep plays Sister Aloysius Beauvier , a Catholic school principal, in this drama from John Patrick Shanley. Sister Aloysius questions Father Flynn’s relationship with a young student and recruits Sister James to monitor the priest’s actions. It is left up to the viewer to decide if her suspicions are correct or if she wants Father Flynn removed for her own reasons. Co-starring Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
I met one nun who is 96 years old who ran the New York City school system in 1963. 70,000 kids in Brooklyn alone, and she ran it. That’s like running a corporation. There wasn’t as woman anywhere in New Jersey where I was growing up running a business that size, but she had a gigantic responsibility and that was something. But she was still less. She was still subservient to her parish priest. And that’s an interesting power dynamic. I’m sure it feeds into whatever the antagonism is in this. How could it not?
Mamma Mia
Streep plays Donna, Sophie’s mother, in this musical comedy directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Bride-to-be Sophie tries to find her real father before her wedding day as she, her friends, and her family sing hit songs by the popular ’70s group ABBA to set the scenes. Co-starring Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth and Christine Baranski.
I just want to do things that are valuable to introduce into the culture. This film is a valuable thing. I knew it when I saw it.
The Devil Wears Prada
Streep plays Miranda Priestley in this comedy directed by David Frankel. Naïve college graduate Andrea Sachs accepts a job as second assistant to Priestley, the ruthless executive editor of Runway, a fashion magazine. Co-starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.
One of the things that I admire about her is her willingness to just say directly what she wants, and she has an expectation that she will get it. That is not viewed in our society as an attractive quality in a woman sometimes. People are very intolerant of it.
A Prairie Home Companion
Streep plays Yolanda Johnson, half of the singing Johnson Sisters, in this musical drama directed by Robert Altman. America’s most celebrated radio show broadcasts its last program as their regular performers hold court in the studio. Co-starring Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Lindsay Lohan and Woody Harrelson.
I didn’t prepare too much. We just had like three days to get ready and I like to sing. It’s just really fun to sing and I don’t get to much. And at my house I’m not allowed to because your children can’t stand it when you sing. … It’s been hard to wait until everybody’s out of the house because there are a lot of them, and sing. Anyway, I was really glad to be able to do it. It was so much fun, so much fun. Pure joy.
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Streep plays Aunt Josephine in this family adventure directed by Brad Silberling. After they are orphaned, Klaus, Violet and Sunny are taken in by their cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, not knowing that he wants to steal their inheritance. Co-starring Jim Carrey and Jude Law.
Aunt Josephine is a great tremulous little bird of a person who was an adventurer in her youth until something spooked her. I just fell in love with this character who is terrified of absolutely everything, because at a certain level, so am I … so are we all.
The Hours
Streep plays Clarissa Vaughan, an editor whose life mimics that of Clarissa Dalloway, in this drama directed by Stephen Daldry. Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway is the jumping off point to chronicle a day in the life of three women in three separate decades, all of whom, in one way or another, encounter suicide. Co-starring Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore.
For me this film was a telescoping of time and emotion and how connected we are—deep down, we’re all very similar.