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AND THE WINNER IS MERYL STREEP
Magazine / Source: Summerville Journal, April 2006 |
When Meryl Streep came to Brookline last week to pick up the Coolidge Award, she didn’t just zip into town, grab the prize, and head back to New York. While here, Streep took part in a press conference with Robert Altman, Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly for their upcoming film “A Prairie Home Companion,” and she was a member of a panel discussion on the film “Adaptation,” with Susan Orlean, Chris Cooper, Charlie Kaufman and Janet Maslin. Streep fielded questions about her films and some off-screen topics. She was serious about her work, but never afraid to make a little fun of herself.
On winning the Coolidge Award:
This award is really celebrating not so much me, but the small, independent art theater. That creature has to be preserved. I think it’s a really important thing, and I’m proud to help out.
On singing live in “A Prairie Home Companion”:
It’s unheard of to do singing live in film. But I felt there was a certain amount of freedom in it because, at least my character was supposed to be kind of a half-assed singer, so mistakes were OK. That’s how I rationalized it (laughs).
On the new VH-1 program “Dingo Ate My Video” and having her line of dialogue from “A Cry in the Dark” becoming part of pop culture:
I think it’s like, “I vant to be alone” — she never said it. And I never said that [line] either, in the movie. I said ? something else. But it’s a really good movie, so I guess I’m glad that in some way, it’s remembered.
On playing Susan Orlean in “Adaptation”:
When I first read it I got very paranoid. It’s such a great part, and I really wanted to play it, but I was very suspicious about why they wanted me to play it. Because Susan is smart (laughs) and younger than I am and glamorous, and ? younger than I am. It was a sexy part, so I was really eager to play it, but I kept thinking, “Are they going to make fun of me?”
On how she chooses roles:
I’m just lucky that scripts come in and tickle me or strike something or that I recognize somebody. When I’m reading something and my heart starts to beat faster, and I’m aware of my heartbeat — which I’m not normally — and if it goes boom boom boom boom, I go, “Ahhh, got a job!”
On training and technique:
I believe in training. But I don’t understand the acting process, and how you teach that. But having said that, I think everything else around acting is really important. The things that I really count on in my own training and that I use all the time are things like my dance teacher, Carmen De Lavallade, who taught me where the center of my body is, and how to make that space relax and also be very strong. And the people that taught me to speak properly — not like I’m from New Jersey all the time — and the people who taught me to read sonnets. I’m a believer in a good liberal arts education, because if you know a little bit of everything, maybe you know a lot. Except math! But if you make friends with math majors, you’re alright.
On who keeps her grounded:
I’m, you know, married, for a really long time. And that person is pretty important in that process. I also have four children who really are not impressed. And a large, extended family who also have various issues with me. It’s all really nice, and tomorrow I go back to that.
On upcoming projects:
I just finished a very weird little piece from the artist Laurie Simmons, who makes interesting photographs, called “The Language of Regret.” She’s made her first film, and I did a sequence in that where I sing with Adam Guettel. And then I’m doing Tony Kushner’s adaptation of “Mother Courage” in Central Park. And I’m making a film with the Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng, called “Dark Matter,” in June.
