Article courtesy the Washington Post: In the flesh, she does not have an aura. She’s not lit from within. Heads do not snap in her direction when she walks through a hotel lobby in a baggy maxi-dress and brown calf-high boots, flanked by her dutiful makeup artist of 35 years and her imperious publicist — the few celebrity trappings of a woman who stubbornly considers herself a working actor, and nothing more. And yet for half of her 62 years she has been dubbed either the Greatest Film Actress of Her Generation or, now, the Greatest Living Film Actress. So how does Meryl Streep, working actor, advance her artistry when she has nothing left to prove, when everything she does seems beyond reproach? In a room off the lobby of the W hotel, she removes her glasses and hair clip and tosses both on a table. She is beautiful — as she has always been — in the remote, masky way a sculpture by Michelangelo is beautiful. Her presence in person feels like the absence of a character. And for this question, she must play the Greatest Living Film Actress. “I feel more worried because, you know, the expectations are so high,” she says, brushing out her blond-white hair into a mane. “I do work very hard. I think I’ve always been that type of girl, from the very beginning. I’m the oldest, and I feel like I have to do a good job. I have to try really really really really hard. I mean that could be my epitaph: She tried really hard.” The complete article can be read here.
Meryl Streep: A life beyond reproach |
4 visitors have commented on this article



Lucy
December 3rd, 2011
I think it’s the rudest article ever. He basically says that Meryl has no personality at all, but is dull and cold as a person and only transforms into someone interesting when she’s acting. Of course I don’t know her personally, but from all I know about her I bet she didn’t like the guy very much and was very reserved toward him. Maybe that’s why he felt that way about her. I had the privilige of standing close to her on a few occasions and all I can say is that she wears the most sensual parfume and is indeed glowing. She really does light up a room with her pesonality.
Steven
December 3rd, 2011
I agree that Meryl was appealing and poetic in the interview in reciting the Chinese poem and explaining her views on her career. I just do not think that Dan Zak was a particularly helpful interviewer and writer. Compare his article with the four other articles about the Kennedy Center Honorees in the Washington Post to see what I mean.
Liz
December 3rd, 2011
Well, I loved this article! For me, it was written with the same tone that shows who Meryl really is and what she feels about her own work and life I feel it explained her poetically and in a way in which she would be proud. And, like Meryl, I feel the writer really really tried to give us a better understanding of what makes Meryl “the pinnacle” for other working actors today.
Steven
December 2nd, 2011
Although this article has some interesting points, I did not particularly like its tone and did not feel it really did justice to Meryl’s career and personality. It had little really new to say. There is nothing about her activities on behalf of women around the world and on the environment.