The actor who astounded Meryl Streep: “How can she sustain that?”
In addition to being one of the greatest actors to grace the silver screen, Meryl Steep has accepted that a certain amount of baggage comes with such reverence. Based entirely on her name and reputation, there’s always a distinctly high chance that Streep will find herself in the running for major trophies anytime she takes on a heavyweight dramatic role, which has seen her become the most-nominated performer in the history of the Academy Awards.
There are now several generations of stars who refer to her in the hushed, reverential tones reserved only for the best of the best. While Streep is cognisant of the way she’s been borderline deified in the profession, it’s not something she’s ever actively leaned into. Well, she has, but only when trying to make people laugh.
She’s worked with some genuine icons of cinema, and having reached the top of the mountain, Streep knows fine well what it takes to get there. As a result, when she witnesses a top-tier actor doing incredible work right in front of her very eyes, she knows she’s got to up her game in order to compete.
“For me, the very, very hardest part of being incessantly called the greatest actress of my generation,” she said per The Hollywood Reporter with tongue planted firmly in cheek. “The hardest part is when you come up against, or you’re acting with, another person who is also really, really, really, really, really, really great. That’s difficult.”
The person in question was Nicole Kidman – another to have earned their spot as one of the modern greats – and the project was Big Little Lies, their first time being part of the same cast since 2002’s The Hours. The Academy Award winner scooped a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy for her performance as Celeste Wright, and Streep was suitably impressed.
“That’s the time when I really came within breathing distance of the formidable gifts Nicole has, and her process and her seismic bank of emotion she’s got locked up inside there and her stamina and her drive to be an artist and her discipline,” Streep explained. “I haven’t recovered from that first day. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. For me, it was traumatising because I thought this woman is a Valkyrie. How is she able to sustain that? Never letting up, never letting down.”
Kidman was forced to run the emotional gamut in HBO’s dark and twisted tale of suburban life’s unseen dark sides, becoming the standout performer amidst a formidable ensemble that also features Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgård, Zoë Kravitz, and Adam Scott. If an all-timer found the strength of her work “traumatising”, then Kidman was clearly operating on a level all of her own.
