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.
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.
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.
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.
![Mamma Mia! - Official® Trailer [HD]](https://newslines.org/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FlkN-A00WLYE%2F0.jpg)
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.
Adaptation.
Streep plays Susan Orlean in this dramedy directed by Spike Jonze and written by Susan Orlean, Charlie Kaufman, and his fictitious twin Donald Kaufman. Initially meant to be a straightforward adaptation of The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, the movie is instead a surreal take on the difficulty Charlie Kaufman had in writing that adaptation. Co-starring Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper.
I thought it was one of the best scripts I’d ever read in my life. They leap out at you, the ones that are really ambitious. That’s what I loved about it—its ambition and its inventiveness. It’s very densely written. It’s dense visually, but also in terms of its ideas and its emotions. It looked like a really interesting ride. It wasn’t like anything I’d been asked to do before. And it’s not like a straightforward story.
