She is an exceptional actress not in terms of fees, but in terms of talent. Able to transform into any character, she chooses her roles in the same way she creates her own life. Meeting with a 57-year-old megastar, mother of four children, a woman – the author of a happy fate.
I was lucky to meet Meryl Streep three times: once in Moscow, where a few years ago she flew to receive the Stanislavsky Prize, and twice in Venice during a film festival, where the actress presented her films. In Moscow, Streep almost fainted from the July heat: the air conditioners did not work in the Cinema House, but the star did not complain. And in Venice, she was so besieged by festival interviewers that she could well get off with formal answers about her new roles. But no: unlike most of the stars I’ve met, Meryl Streep spreads some kind of domestic warmth around her. An atypical case: for more than a quarter of a century she has been in a single marriage – with the sculptor Donald Gummer – and her maternal concerns seem to be much more busy than star status. She has played many brilliant roles, dozens of articles about each of which have been written, and it seems that she has never played herself. American actress number 1 is able to star in the picture she likes for a disproportionately low fee. It can bring the make-up artist and dresser to white heat, building the external image of his heroine, and at the same time treats his own appearance without much attention. He likes to appear in public in a sentimental blouse with a rose or put on comical mini-glasses with blue tint … In general, Meryl considers dependence on fashion and high brands to be very stupid. Remembers the name of the person who is currently interviewing her. When a mobile phone rings during a conversation, he exhales: “I hope this is not a disaster!” – and pours the contents of the bag onto the floor in search of the apparatus … The interlocutor opens the hand cream, wallet, leg bandage, pen, hair brush. She grabs the phone, listens, quickly says to the caller: “Yeah … Bye,” and says with relief – no, not a disaster … “
The actress, who is called “great”, “legend” and “a property of the English-speaking culture”, considers herself just a woman. For example, she irons her things herself – the only way, in her words, “it is impossible to debauch, to dissolve.” She is characterized by a healthy irony – perhaps hence the glasses, and roses, and a sharp (and sometimes just strong) word. The owner of two Oscars (out of a record number of nominations for this award) every time on her first day of shooting experiences an attack of acting neurasthenia, and at home she feels like a “chauffeur, money earner and ordinary mother”, whose opinion growing children do not always consider it necessary to listen to .
Briefly and clearly
What opportunities in acting do you especially value?
Chance to be funny.
How do you release emotions? The heroine of “Sophie’s Choice” in a concentration camp had to choose which of her two children to stay alive …
I come home and cook dinner.
What do you consider the highest point of your fame?
When the time to go to the dentist is only in another country, during the festival. Yes, and then to the one that works until late.
What is fashion for you?
Something that creates conflict between a woman and herself.
What is your favorite recent role?
Studio recording of the fairy tales “The Night Before Christmas” and “The Velvet Bunny” for children’s audiobooks.
Psychologies: Do you still iron your clothes?
Meryl Streep: The blouse I’m wearing now, I ironed myself. And you have to believe it! I like ironing myself. Excellent therapy – really helps not to part with reality. Besides, I’m very picky. I don’t think anyone can iron it better than me. No, perhaps my daughter Grace can. Mom could.
There is probably a purely practical side to this: you look great.
M. S .: For my 57, you mean?
No, I just want to tell the truth: you look great.
M. S .: Thank you, of course. But you are sitting quite far from me … I always remember the words of Catherine Deneuve: “At a certain age, a woman has to choose – either a face or a figure.” I chose a face. And the rest … I sit on the rest. I’m resting… I mean my laurels.
Sorry, but it seems to me that you have never really flaunted your appearance in general. At least in films.
M. S .: I just never considered appearance as a trump card and did not play this card. It turned out that this is in many ways a liberating position – not to depend on your appearance. In general, for an actress, worrying about how she looks is a terrible trap. Appearance for me is a six, not a trump card, here, like in cards, a bluff is possible: somehow play in such a way that it is not clear whether you are beautiful or ugly. You can watch with interest what your bluff did to the audience. And don’t worry about your “expiration date”! But you’re right, I didn’t appreciate much…
Do you regret anything?
M. S .: Not about the lost thing itself, but about this feeling: I did not appreciate what I had. For example, at 30, I thought I was fat. And now I’m watching “Kramer vs. Kramer” and I see: there was nothing to worry about, I was not fat. But even if it were, this is not a reason to worry.
When you look at the woman you were a quarter of a century ago, what do you feel: is this a different person?
M. S .: Yes, I’m still the same! What can change in us? Motivation of actions, opinions, reactions? What?
Maybe the ability to compromise? There are more of them with age.
M. S .: You know what… My parents were Presbyterian by religion and Jewish by blood. Our family, on the one hand, is characterized by Protestant ethics – the cult of labor, faith in justice. And on the other hand, the ability to take off when necessary, non-attachment to the material that we currently have … In addition, I am a child of the 60s. My youth is a youth revolution, a desperate readiness to turn the world around for the better. And I don’t think anything has changed in me. I am the same as before.
Do any physical changes affect your perception of the world?
M. S .: I remember, at the age of eight, I was literally in love with my grandmother. I took her eyebrow pencil, stood in front of the mirror and drew wrinkles on my face: I wanted to feel what it was like to be a grandmother. Mom then took pictures of me, I have these pictures, and I laugh every time I look at them! Because on them I am exactly the same as now! We are in old age what we should have been at eight. And at eight – those who we will become in old age … No, we do not essentially change. Yes, and my maternal experience says the same: I have four children, the eldest is 27, the youngest is 14. I was convinced that the personality is already obvious in the baby and does not change in its depths. The way of making decisions is changing, but decisions are made only those that are characteristic of a person. Years do not change the personality – they polish it. For example, we become less arrogant. At the age of 25, I was the biggest specialist in how and what to play. Now I’m much less sure of it.
And the sense of justice in you has not suffered. Your friend Cher told how you, walking around New York, saw that a hefty guy takes a bag from a woman. You screamed, rushed at him, he rushed to run, and you chased after him …
M. S .: Don’t let go of the bandit! I was a hippie, but still believed that evil should be punished – here and now. In general, all of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s are no strangers to activism and social activity. And feminism, of course. We were all… anti-glamourous back then. They didn’t want to depend on a man. They wanted to take control of their lives. That’s why I volunteered to host a press conference for Afghan refugee women a few years ago when they talked about life under the Taliban. When I heard from them about the situation of women in Afghanistan at that time, I just boiled – as a mother of three girls and as the daughter of a woman who has always been independent in her opinions. And now, when I play self-confident, adapted to life women – as in The Manchurian Candidate or The Devil Wears Prada – I reflect on their fate in society. There are simply no such ambitious and purposeful personalities in modern Hollywood! The life of such people is “cut off” – the very idea that a woman can be a leader is inconvenient for people. Is it any wonder that, having made their way upstairs, they are psychologically deformed, sometimes becoming real monsters? The feeling of doubt is no longer known to them. By the way, not like me.
And do you own it?
M. S .: Not that word! Starting a new job, I exhaust myself, torment myself, and in the end I cease to understand why I got involved in all this. You should have heard me: “Sentry! I do not know what to do! Why am I here?! Why do they want me for this role?! Because I don’t know, I don’t know how to play it!” Strange, right? The husband says: “You have it all the time, you always behave like this before filming.” And I told him: “No! This has never happened before! Only with this role! But Don thinks it’s my acting way of destroying myself, feeling like a blank page… “You just have to start,” he once told me. – Start from the beginning”. Now this is my motto. This is the most valuable advice anyone has ever given me in my life. The main thing is to take the first step, the rest will follow.
Have you ever wanted to quit this torment and focus only on your family?
M. S .: No, despite the fact that I’m actually a very family man. And I built a big family, because I just can’t imagine life alone. But I did not act, only when I was expecting my children. The real feat is to raise them and still work every day – most women live this way. And shooting takes me an average of four months, but the next three or four – until a new picture – I dedicate to my family. Frankly, I am satisfied that I do not have a permanent job. And that I can take my kids everywhere with me. They visited the most exotic places … Although, by and large, the children were hostages of my acting lifestyle. Henry went to kindergarten in New York and Texas, went to first grade in Africa, and finished it in England, spent the second grade in Connecticut, the third in Australia, the fourth in Los Angeles. That is, where I had the shooting. Until one day he told Don and me very harshly: “I don’t intend to be new anymore!” And we slowed down with our movements. And five years ago we finally settled in New York: our daughter Mamie, she is now 23, decided to become a theater actress. And the theater is inevitably New York.
Did Mami get it right?
M. S .: Yes, critics called her role in the play “Mr. Marmalade” an event! Lots of offers… But the most important thing for me is that she has health insurance… The kids are doing the right thing by standing their ground and doing what they are inclined to do. My eldest, Henry, is a rock musician and actor. What the other two are inclined to is not yet clear. But, fortunately, this does not seem to be cinema or theater.
Medical insurance… Are you so afraid for your children?
M. S .: You know, there is a Jewish proverb: “True troubles come from imaginary troubles.” And I’m superstitious enough to believe her. So I’m not afraid of anything. Although … Until you have children, you have no idea what fears can visit!
You have been married for almost 30 years. What is the secret to the strength of your marriage?
M. S .: Goodwill, some flexibility, and… the ability to shut up sometimes. It must be borne in mind that in the business of building a family there can be no architectural project – only an eternal negotiation process and a desire to saturate every season of your life with love and affection.
You managed to take place in the profession and in family life. Are you dreaming of something else?
M. S .: I am happy that I was able to realize myself not only as an actress, but also as a woman. I feel sorry for those of my colleagues who communicate only with their lawyers, assistants and artistic environment and do not know anything else in life. Of course, it would be nice if I could still write, or illustrate children’s books, or, for example, drop everything and go fishing all autumn. But no, none of this is given to me. I’m just an actress. A person who embodies the ideas of others. And I can’t do anything else.
Private bussiness
- 1949 A daughter, Mary Louise Streep, was born to a pharmaceutical manager and artist, the first of their three children.
- 1962-1965 Attends the School of the Arts and prepares to become an opera singer.
- 1968 Travels across America with a group of hippies and decides to become an actress.
- 1972 Graduates from the Yale University School of Dramatic Art.
- 1976 Broadway debut in 27 Wagons of Cotton based on the play by Tennessee Williams.
- 1977 Debuts in the film The Secret Service.
- 1978 Marries sculptor Donald Gummer.
- 1979 Oscar for his role in Robert Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer. Birth of son Henry, followed by three daughters: Mary (Mamie, 1983), Grace (1986) and Louise (1991).
- 1982 Oscar for his role in Alan Pakula’s Sophie’s Choice.
- 2003 Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France (Commandeur Dans Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) for his contribution to the development of world art.
- 2004 Prize them. Stanislavsky for the achievements of the life of the Moscow International Film Festival.
- 2006 Companions by Robert Altman; The Devil Wears Prada by David Frankel. Leading role in the Public Theater play “Mother Courage and Her Children”, which is played in the Central Park of New York under the open sky; Free admission.