Today's Must Read: Streep's "Kramer vs Kramer" Breakthrough
Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at 9:03PM 
This new book on Meryl's rise will be released at the end of AprilIf you haven't yet chanced upon it or been directed there by multiple excited tweets, make sure to read this excerpt / reworking of a passage from a forthcoming book by Michael Schulman on Meryl Streep's rise to fame via Kramer vs Kramer that's currently gracing Vanity Fair. We've talked about Kramer vs Kramer multiple times here at TFE and it's been heartening to see the critical tide at least slightly turning in the blockbuster drama's favor of late. For a long time cinephiles seemed to despise it, due in no small part to its Oscars. When you beat noticeably ambitious artistic and stylized masterpieces like Apocalypse Now and All That Jazz to the Best Picture crown there's bound to be a backlash if your film is merely human-sized, no matter how resonant and superbly acted it may be. But, a truth, that's always worth noting in movie buff wars: every year has multiple films worthy of praise and just because one gets singled out in the moment, it doesn't mean its worthy of your ire.
But I digress. Read this piece! Here's a bit about the fantasies, realities, and fictions around Meryl Streep's audition -- nobody actually knows which is which since the accounts are different depending on who is interviewed:
Meryl marched into the hotel suite where Hoffman, Benton, and Jaffe sat side by side. She had read Corman’s novel and found Joanna to be “an ogre, a princess, an ass,” as she put it soon after to American Film. When Dustin asked her what she thought of the story, she told him in no uncertain terms. They had the character all wrong, she insisted. Her reasons for leaving Ted are too hazy. We should understand why she comes back for custody. When she gives up Billy in the final scene, it should be for the boy’s sake, not hers. Joanna isn’t a villain; she’s a reflection of a real struggle that women are going through across the country, and the audience should feel some sympathy for her. If they wanted Meryl, they’d need to do re-writes, she later told Ms. magazine.
The trio was taken aback, mostly because they hadn’t called her in for Joanna in the first place. They were thinking of her for the minor role of Phyllis, the one-night stand. Somehow she’d gotten the wrong message. Still, she seemed to understand the character instinctively. Maybe this was their Joanna after all?
That, at least, was Meryl’s version. The story the men told was completely different...
Reader Comments (30)
Yeah, that article is superb. Pre-ordering the shit out of that book.
Such a good read.... frankly I'm surprised it hasn't dominated twitter today. Yes it was widely shared but not discussed.
Thanks for pointing us to the article. I had no idea Hoffman was such a relentless actor, and that there had been that much friction between him and Streep. The brightside: the movie and their performances are beautiful.
I am glad you posted this. Great read. Streep was honest about Hoffman during her 60 Minutes interview, but this shares much more detail. I am kind of amazed she didn't quit the picture after he hit her. It shows a lot of will and grit on her part, especially when you consider she was new and 29, and he was a big male superstar at 41. He has since admitted he was a jerk mess on drugs and going through his own divorce, but still, terrible behavior.
I just love Vanity Fair. Love, love, love.
Everyone knows that Meryl can deliver an Oscar worthy performance without all that method bullshit from Hoffman.
Streep's method is to feel nothing in her process. It separates her from everyone else that actually gives something from their bones.
O Nat!! thank for this wonderful link to this Insightful & GREAT article!!!
Meryl has been getting backlashes of late for no reason other than she is MERYL STREEP. Her performance & the ORDEAL filming Kramer really shows us what a strong, resilient, dedicated & talented actress she was & STILL is
Shame on Hoffman for all the unnecessary & excessive bullying/coaxing/slapping!!! This MCP thought everyone is like him & can only deliver a good performance via method acting.
& shame on Oscar for letting him win again for Rainman, his worst ever Method Over-Acting!!
Is it odd these stories come out now while they are still living? I guess the world is more transparent. Everyone in show biz has a bad film experience story but they seldom get told because of the system (where Harvey has ended careers, or whatever code is operating).
As for Streep, she really broke the mold. I agree with Thomson that she is the most influential movie actor of her time. I was reading a recent thread about Doubt (2008) on a gossip page of all places, and people love that movie too.
Really fascinating read, although why is it an "adaptation" of the book passage? Why not just an excerpt? I wonder what's in the actual book that they had to change it up? Very odd.
I've never been much of a Dustin Hoffman fan, so...
I had heard some of this before, but not the details of Dustin Hoffman slapping Meryl, or his use of the death of John Cazale to emotionally wound her. His arrogance was incredible, and his actions totally unnecessary.
It didn't surprise me because stories of Hoffman's behavior had surfaced after "Marathon Man". It became widely known that he treated Laurence Olivier (who was ill at the time) to "Method" techniques that exhausted Olivier's patience and caused serious time delays on set.
I believe Hoffman did change his behavior significantly for the better in the 80's.
However Robert Benton is to blame just as much, if not more than Hoffman. It's up to the director to rein in that type of bad behavior, instead of indulging it. Clearly he failed to protect women on the set.
Sounds very familiar when you think of David O'Russell and David Fincher.
I don't buy that version.
I really dislike Dustin Hoffmann as a person (I hear he's hell to wait on on in restaurants) but the late 70's and early 80's he gave some superlative performances (i.e. Kramer and Tootsie). In his case I have to separate the person from the art.
I knew there were issues on set with Hoffman and Streep but this is the first time we heard that he slapped her. I have heard of the wine glass smashing and him always directing her ( the courtroom scene), and being piggish towards her before.
Today her team has said the book is unauthorized and she has no comment. Not surprising for a celebrity who is incredibly private.
/3tful
I agree that far too often she's all surface - especially in recent years - but when she goes for something approaching naturalism - eg. that shoe monologue in A:OC or her elderly Thatcher or most of Sophie's Choice or basically all of Madison County or Postcards of the Edge or, Kramer or, hell, Music of the Heart (from what I remember) - it's tough to argue against the fact she is one of the great actresses of her generation. It's just so sad that such a tiny amount of her actual performances fully live up to that potential.
Reminds me - I caught Ricki and the Flash just the other day. Her daughter handily outacts her (and is in fact very, very good). Which is kind of sweet, actually.
@LadyEdith
Because of how the Hollywood system works, I doubt Robert Benton had much power to 'rein in' Hoffman
I'm not a Meryl lover, but her work in Kramer V. Kramer will never get the credit it deserves for being (not just great but) subversive.
I would rate Joanna Kramer up there with various Fonda, Rowlands, and Clayburgh creations as a groundbreaking depiction of womanhood in the 70s. Divorce was not such an easy thing to represent in mainstream film—sympathetically depicting a woman who abandons her family was edgy, any way you look at it.
Some say the script is shame-y about that character but I think the opposite—the success or failure of the movie depended on whether we could relate to her.
I wonder how Hoffman would have felt if Streep, just before their big breakup scene, leaned over and whispered, "Now I know why your wife Anne left you."
You know, to employ the Method acting technique ; )
Is no one intigued by Kate Jacksons unseen take on Joanna and what may have been.
I love how "Her Again" references her Iron Lady Oscar acceptance speech.
Did Kate Jackson ever get another opportunity to become an A-list dramatic leading actress in film?
Dustin Hoffman has always been over-rated as an actor. Now I know he's a jerk too.
I just LOVE her. I'll buy any book about her.
She really should write one for her 16 Oscar speeches she never told. It woud be amazing.
8)
Holy cow. Just read that piece and this book sounds fantastic.
I am a huge Hoffman fan, and I'm appalled at the behavior this article recounts. Meryl should have drop-kicked his gonads.
Wonderful article and I'm glad someone else agrees with me that her daughter is far better than she is in Ricki and the Flash.
I really don't get it when one says Meryl is all surface. Gawd, she has given so many heartfelt performances over the decades even in recent times like Julie & Julia and Ricki (I beg to differ that her daughter outacted her. If you've followed the career of Mamie, you'll realize she's kind of boxed in by her own limitations).
I was watching Madison County the other day on blu ray at a friend's place and my gawd, she was sublime and so real, a precursor to all that wonderful acting we're seeing right now in Carol and 45 years.
Mamie was very good in Ricki, but outact her mother? I don 't think so..
I, too, do not see her as a surface actress... maybe in Doubt, Prime, House of the Spirits...
I would agree, but generally she isn't.( IMO )
I find this story kind of sad but I guess it adds to the legend of these actors. It is poignant and a bit upsetting to know that, behind the scenes, the male actor was mean to the actress playing his wife. Thank God she went on to happier film experiences.
@ SoSue
Making Love (1982).
I cried bucket for Bridges of Madison County. The scene where Eastwood left her is a killer...I rem I've never cried so bitterly b4, ever. Streep was sooooooo great...her desire to go off with Eastwood to forge a new life, yet fighting her urges and finally choosing to uphold her duties as a mother & wife.