| EXTENSIVE BIOGRAPHY | CHAPTER 09 | BREAKING RECORDS |
After almost three years of screen absence, Meryl Streep returned with two movies,
which developed to be the most successful and accalaimed productions of 2003. First she was seen
in Spike Jonze's "Ad-
aptation". Originally, Jonze and his screenwriter Charlie Kaufman began on
a film version of Susan Orlean's bestseller "The Orchid Thief", but ended to portray Kaufman's
struggle with adaptating it as the film's plot. Nicolas
Cage is not only seen as screenwriter Charlie, but also as his (fictional) twin-brother
Donald. Meryl Streep joined the project and portrayed Orlean, a successful author, but unfulfilled
woman and wife, who slowly falls in love with the subject of her book, the Orchid thief John Laroche,
who is obsessed with the flowers, | |
Streep's Oscar-nominated character Susan Orlean drifts into bizarre territories, in "Adaptation" |
which he seeks out in the sumps of Florida. As the twin-brothers begin
to spy in Orlean, they discover her recent affection on Laroche - and her joy with drugs and sex.
That's when the story begins. "Adaptation" isn't your regular Hollywood movie and by far not the
typical Meryl Streep movie, surely a reason why the film and Meryl were praised by critics,
as they called Streep's performance "exuberant" (BBC Films) and " played with impish composure"
(The New York Times). A first recognition came in late 2002, when Meryl received a nomination
as Best Supporting Actress. But it wasn't the only Golden Globe nomination she received that day.
With telling the story of "three different women's life in a single day, and it that day their whole
life" (a remarkable subtitle from the film), Michael Cunningham created a worldwide
acclaimed mast-
erpiece with "The Hours", a drama that weaves the stories of a lonely house-wife, Laura Brown, in the
50's, who is desperately moved by the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf. Woolf herself is a
segment back in 1923, as she's not only struggling with the first line of this book, but also with her
own life after she tried to commit suicide several years ago.
The third woman is the present-living | |
As Clarissa in "The Hours" and with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman at the
film's premiere in 2002 |
Clarissa Vaughan, a New Yorker book editor, who seems to live the life that Woolf was writing in her novel
- and that leads Laura Brown to a make decision that will not only change her life, but the
emotional conditions of everybody involved. Director Stephen Daldry, who claimed to faim with his
motion picture debut "Billy Elliot" in 1999, a British
drama that moved audiences all over the world, got a group of actors, every director
- and audience - can dream of. With Meryl Streep as Clarissa, Julianne Moore as Laura, and Nicole Kidman as
Virginia, the film has the power of three admired and respected actresses. Surrounded by some of
America's finest performers, including Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, the British
Miranda Richardson and the Australian Toni Collette, a cast that summaried 21 Oscar nominations at
that time, filming "The Hours" seemed to become a heavenly job, but problems came faster than
expected.
As the film's segments were filmed one after another, starting with the Meryl Streep story,
continuing with Moore's scenes and finally filming the Kidman episode, Streep had to return
to subsequently re-shot all scenes between Clarissa and Louis Walter. Actor Zeljko Ivanek first
played the role of Louis, but was later replaced by Jeff Daniels, reasons were not stated.
After these scenes, most memorable Clarissa's and Louis' conversation in the kitchen, were filmed,
Meryl had to return once again. Much concern surrounded the portrayal of Laura Brown in the 2001
segment. Fearing
that suitable make-up couldn't make Julianne Moore look elderly, and due to scheduling conflicts, actress Betsy
Blair was cast to play the role of Old Laura. Scenes were filmed with Meryl Streep. However,
director Daldry was so dissatisfied with the outcome that Moore was brought in much later in "old"
makeup, to re-shoot scenes with Streep. Due this delay, the film finally released US cinemas in
December 2002. Only two days after it opened, "The Hours" received seven nominations for the Golden
Globe Award, including | |
Receiving a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for "Adaptation" |
nods for Best Picture, Best Actress (Nicole Kidman), Best Director and - beside
the reported nomination for "Adapation" - a second recognition for Meryl's performance, this time
in the Best Actress category. With two films that were hailed by the critics and two nominations
for both of her performances, Meryl Streep couldn't have had a better "comeback" after her screen
absence.
But back to the Golden Globes, when they were finally handed out in January 2003, Meryl Streep was
the first winner of the evening for "Adaptation" (the last Globe was awarded to her ten years ago,
in 1983 for "Sophies Choice"). Obviously surprised by her win, she asked Susan Orlean for
apologize for the film's second half. "The Hours" not only won the Best Actress Award for Nicole
Kidman but was also voted the Best Drama of the year. Academies from all over the world raved over
the actresses' performances, all three were awarded by the Berlin Film Festival with their Best
Actress trophies, and Meryl was further awarded in France with a César Award and was named as
Commander in the Order of Arts in Letters, also in France. As "The Hours" received nine Oscar
nominations in March 2003 (and a win by Nicole Kidman - or her nose, as presenter Denzel Washington
stated), Meryl received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for "Adaptation", her
13th recognition in total, a number that surpasses record-holder Katharine Hepburn's 12 nods and
making Meryl Streep the most Oscar-nominated person in the history of filmmaking. With this fact,
it wasn't tragic she lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones.
