Tuesday, January 12, 2010

One more reason why I love Meryl Streep


When she was on "Inside the Actor's Studio," Meryl Streep talked about one of her first forays into dramatic study, where for an assignment she got up on the stage and pretended to be an aged actress who was going into retirement and giving a speech thanking everyone who had made her what she was. She got so into the character, incidentally, she actually found herself crying. A very auspicious beginning, to be sure, since she is probably the most lauded actress alive (I won't say Greatest Living Actress, because she seems to find that distinction ridiculous).

It's been a while since she won an Oscar (27 years ago, for Sophie's Choice), but she's been on many other award stages in recent years, and on top of the enormous talent that has brought her such accolades, the woman gives the best speeches. One of my favorites was a Golden Globe speech she gave a couple of years ago (for The Devil Wears Prada) where she said that if you want to see movies like Volver and Pan's Labyrinth and The Queen and Little Children but can't because they're not playing where you live, then you need to go to your local theater manager and ask them why.

Here's her latest (which I have been trying to embed for the last 20 minutes, to no avail), accepting Best Actress honors at the New York Film Critics' Circle awards for Julie and Julia. Best line by far: "I'd like to thank Sony and Amy Pascal for sending me to real Paris, unlike Fox on The Devil Wears Prada, who sent me to Midtown, so I had to like pretend. It was really hard."

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