The director Meryl Streep refused to listen to: “That’s none of your business”
Meryl Streep is one of the few actors who began her career back in Hollywood’s magnificent 1970s period who is still frequently taking on incredible roles across film and TV, with the star consistently choosing interesting projects to throw herself into.
Her talents have, of course, taken her far, but with her experience in the industry, she has also learned how to stay headstrong, actively ensuring that the vision she has for her character and her performance isn’t overshadowed by others.
Streep doesn’t want to be taken advantage of or bossed around like she’s just any old talent, and with that comes an attitude that is forthright and confident, which mesmerised a co-star of hers who had never seen a performer act so sure of what they were doing.
I guess that when you’ve been in the business for as long as Streep, you get used to interacting with all kinds of directors and learn that, especially as a woman, you have to stand your ground and ensure that your voice is not lost among the noise. Thus, no matter who she is working with or how nice or skilled they are, perhaps because she comes to inhabit her characters so deeply when she is performing, the actor won’t ever let her ideas for them go unheard, which is something that caught her costar Poorna Jagannathan by surprise.
Jagannathan starred in HBO’s Big Little Lies and was witness to Streep in action during the filming of season two, with direction coming from British filmmaker Andrea Arnold, known for the likes of Fish Tank, American Honey, and more recently, Bird, who took over the role after Jean-Marc Vallée helmed season one.
Streep was hired to play the mother of Alexander Skarsgård’s Perry, Mary Louise Wright, a rather evil woman who quickly clashes with her daughter-in-law, Nicole Kidman’s Celeste. She turns in an incredible performance, embodying the hideous woman with apparent ease, but according to Jagannathan, she ensured that her character wasn’t presented with as much villainy as she had been written with, unafraid to challenge Arnold and the rest of the crew when she was asked to “up the ante”.
“I’ve never seen an actor be so protective about their character. If you’re on set and the director and the producer and the writer say something, you will step out of character, take the notes, and then go back in. That’s just what I’ve seen,” Jagannathan explained on Vanity Fair‘s Still Watching podcast.
Emphasising that Streep wasn’t “rude” in her approach, she added, “And Meryl was, it wasn’t that she wouldn’t entertain any comments, she just wouldn’t entertain any comments that insinuated that she was the villain of the piece. Or any comments that asked her to up the ante on the villain-ness. She was just very protective of her character. She would literally say, ‘That’s none of your business, I don’t think’. I literally did a double-take!”
Clearly, Streep knows what she’s doing, and it’s going to take a lot for someone to persuade her to act their way, as not even the advice of her director can easily sway her.
