A young Meryl Streep discusses her favourite actors and directors
Often revered among the finest actors of her generation, Meryl Streep first made her presence felt in the mid-1970s, initially on entering the fiercely competitive world of Broadway. Streep garnered widespread acclaim in 1976 after receiving a Tony Award nomination for appearing in a double-bill production of 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays; it was only a matter of time before the Hollywood Hills beckoned.
By 1977, Streep had made her film debut in Julia, Fred Zinnemann’s Oscar-winning World War Two drama starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. Just a year later, she would receive her first Oscar nomination for a spellbinding appearance in Michael Cimino’s Vietnam war drama The Deer Hunter, alongside Robert De Niro, one of her early acting heroes.
“When I was in drama school, I idolised Robert De Niro,” Streep revealed to the Hollywood Foreign Press in the 1980s. “After I saw Taxi Driver, I said to myself, ‘That’s the kind of actor I want to be when I grow up.’ So, it was a dream to work with him the first time in The Deer Hunter; after that, we always wanted to do something else together, and we found the script of Falling in Love, which was a very delicate story with a lot of interior emotion. I love working with him because he’s so meticulous, and he’s very committed to the moment that happens, he can’t stand any kind of lie and he’ll go on and on in search of the take that feels absolutely truthful. It’s really very challenging to work with him, but great.”
In the same interview, Streep revealed some of her childhood acting heroes who inspired her to pursue the craft. “When I was a kid used to watch I Love Lucy all the time and liked Lucille Ball, I loved Carole Lombard too,” she said. “Although l didn’t know her name for a long time, I just knew that whenever that woman was on, I liked her. I also really admired Katharine Hepburn and Judy Holliday.”
In 1979, Streep won her first Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ opposite the ‘Best Actor’ Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer. The classic courtroom drama saw the pair of divorcees fight for custody of their child, and it appears that this tempest boiled over into reality while the film was being shot. Fortunately, Streep found a more than capable mediator in the director, Robert Benton.
Streep and Benton formed a close bond while working together and collaborated once again on the 1982 thriller Still of the Night. “Robert Benton was more like a friend than a collaborator; we worked closely on both films, Kramer vs. Kramer and Still of the Night,” Streep revealed to the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Elsewhere in her interview, Streep revealed that she had most fun working with Mike Nichols, with whom she collaborated on 1983’s Silkwood and 1986’s Heartburn.
“The most fun director to work with was Mike Nichols because he was very funny all the time; his wit was so alive off-camera that it kept things popping on the set of Silkwood,” she said. “Alan Pakula, who directed me in Sophie’s Choice, had a very different style; he created a sacrosanct atmosphere on the set, a hallowed space in which to work, where actors felt completely protected and cushioned from any outside influence.”
Sophie’s Choice arrived on screens in 1982 and saw Streep pick up the second of her three Oscars to date and her first for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’. Her appearance as Margaret Thatcher in 2011’s The Iron Lady swung her second trophy in the category and third overall.
“I had a good working relationship with Fred Schepisi in Plenty and our second film, A Cry in the Dark, which I hope is not the last,” Streep added as she continued to list her favourite directional partnerships. “He lets me talk and occasionally listens to what I say, which is nice, so it’s very enjoyable to work with him, except that the hours he keeps are insane.”
Sadly, Streep and Schepisi haven’t reunited since Evil Angels (titled A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand). The 83-year-old Australian filmmaker hasn’t released a feature-length movie since 2013’s Words and Pictures, but with no word of retirement, who knows? Maybe the pair will work again once more.
Watch Meryl Streep accept her first Oscar at the 1980 Academy Awards Ceremony below.
