Curio: Meryl, 30 Years Ago
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:31AM Alexa here. Digging through my magazine collection (I'm not a hoarder, really) I came upon this Meryl Streep-covered issue of Rolling Stone from October 1981, back when Annie Leibovitz was photographing for the magazine, and when Meryl was promoting French Lieutenant's Woman. She was a mere 32 years old then, younger than Kate Winslet is today. There are a lot of choice bits in the interview inside, confirming again that she is just, well, the best and most endearing of them all.
On her method (or lack thereof):
I don't have any method. People who have est, or people who have other means of relaxation, feel sure they have 'The Way' tucked inside their scripts. I don't have that. I sort of go at everything from a different direction.
On fame:
Put yourself in this position. You're passing the newsstand at Fifty-seventh Street and Sixth Avenue, and there's your face on the cover of a magazine. And one week later, you're on the subway, and there's that cover, with your face, on the floor. Somebody's probably pissed on it. It's an immediate sense of recognition of what this is.
On having just starred in Alice in Concert, a musical version of Alice in Wonderland, at the Public Theater:
I had just done three movies, and I needed to jump and leap and feel the way I see my little boy play. And I wanted to forget the way I look, to become un-self-conscious, to have that freedom children have when they're doing something in the middle of a room full of adults looking at them - and they just totally don't care. Sure, maybe I can go to an analyst to try not to be self-conscious, but it never occurred to me to do that.
On her choices:
This is a particularly unadventurous time intellectually and artistically, even in terms of entertainment. And I feel worried, because my livelihood is threatened because I'm not interested in doing most of the films that are being made. People think you make choices based on some array of characters that are placed in front of you. Well, it isn't that way. There are so few beautifully written scripts that if there's something with any promise, you latch on. You pay them to do it.
Curio, Meryl Streep, Oscars (80s), magazines
Reader Comments (12)
I remember this article.
I have just looked at simplystreep.com and noticed that her supposed movie "August:Osage County" has been taken off her forthcoming projects. Do you know anything about this??
she is best actress ever
This was before she threw the gauntlet down on a generation of actors with "Sophie's Choice." Kinda freaky. And she was already an Oscar winner at this point.
What's the relevance of the white makeup in the cover?
Hanz -- i assume the white makeup is merely to denote theatricality... like she is her own actor's mask. I've always loved that photo.
Rick -- i didn't know this but it wouldn't surprise me. If films stay in development too long or move back to many times, the option on the stars they've lined up generally runs out.
Alice in Concert, aka Alice at the Palace, is a really great show. It's mostly sung-through and is closer to a concert (surprise) than a tradition musical. It really gets the tone of the book. There's a DVD of the at the Palace version that was filmed with Meryl Streep. She's fully invested playing a young girl and sounds lovely singing the score.
I love the last quote. In a strange way, it eases the anxiety of our present time, since I feel exactly *that* right now...
I have this on my coffee table right now!!!! YAY!
check out this youtube clip, at about 1:08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJTe8rqgBss&feature=player_embedded#!
Hanz: In regard to the unusual cover, the photographer, Annie Liebovitz, has explained that Streep was not anxious to have her picture taken and was bothered by all the publicity currently surrounding her and felt the white face would sort of "hide" her.
That cover photo -- best photo of La Streep by a mile, Y/Y?
LOL - I have this very mag cover framed and hanging on the wall just over my keyboard...
Mark... yes.