“Life’s too short to be mad”: the betrayal that devastated Meryl Streep
Unfortunately, Hollywood is full of betrayals.
It’s a landscape full of people competing for power, blackmailing, and going behind each other’s backs – only the strongest seem to survive. One of Meryl Streep’s strongest attributes is evidently her ability to forgive, because when she experienced a big Hollywood betrayal, she decided not to hold it against those she considered traitors. She’s much more mature than some.
Streep’s been in the game a long while, picking up her first Oscar nod back in 1978 for The Deer Hunter – a role that wasn’t even meant to be all that major, until it became clear her on-screen presence was impossible to ignore. From there, it was only a matter of time before the next nomination rolled in, and sure enough, she bagged the win with Kramer vs Kramer in 1979.
The ‘80s were monumental for Streep, and she starred in various acclaimed films, several of which were directed by Mike Nichols, like Silkwood, Heartburn and Postcards From the Edge. Becoming friends as well as collaborators, another pairing between the two was planned in the form of The Remains of the Day, with Jeremy Irons set to play the other leading role.
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name, the film would emerge in 1993, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Of course, Streep and Irons were nowhere to be seen in the project, nor was Nichols involved.
The movie inspired a great betrayal for Streep, who blames much of the issue on her agent, Sam Cohn, who also served as Nichols’ agent. When Nichols came to the realisation that Streep wasn’t right for the part, he decided not to let her know, and Cohn didn’t do his job in communicating with Streep, either. Soon, the actor felt as though she’d been let down by friends and collaborators she thought she could trust.
Talking to the New York Times, Streep revealed that she was initially hurt, although she didn’t divulge the full details of the incident. It’s clear, though, that she simply wanted some better communication from the both of them. “I left [the agency she was signed to] because of something Mike did that I felt Sam should have protected me from. Mike knows what he did, but unfortunately Sam wore the scar.”
The Remains of the Day was directed by James Ivory after Nichols stepped down from the project, and it scooped up eight Academy Award nominations. It undoubtedly would’ve been another Oscar nomination –and potentially a win – for Streep if she had been cast, but alas, some things just aren’t meant to be.
In the end, Streep decided to just forgive and forget. “My relationship with them is in the ‘life’s too short to be mad’ category. Mike is someone I share an enormous amount of history with. He has a big part of my heart.”
Streep has a rare attitude for someone of her standing in Hollywood, and quite frankly, it’s refreshing. “I was very upset to be upset. I have too much of a need for forgiveness in my life,” she concluded.
