The scene that reduced Meryl Streep to tears: “It’s just the greatest thing ever”
Few actors have had quite as illustrious careers as Meryl Streep, who holds the record for the most Oscar nominations in Hollywood history. From the early stages of her career, Streep was landing roles in acclaimed movies and earning plenty of applause for her complex performances.
It says a lot about an actor when one of their first performances earns an Oscar nomination. For Streep, a role in The Deer Hunter that was written so she could be close to her terminally ill boyfriend, John Cazale, ended up landing the actor her first Academy Award nomination. What was meant to be a small role captivated viewers, and Streep proved that she was able to give unforgettable performances no matter the part.
From Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie’s Choice to The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Out of Africa, the late 1970s and 1980s were a fruitful time for Streep’s career, and she rose to become one of the biggest stars Hollywood had seen in a long time. Streep has always been well-respected by critics, but she typically appears in movies with wide commercial appeal, never opting for anything too experimental or avant-garde.
Still, that doesn’t mean she can’t explore a breadth of genres. Streep has appeared in everything from musicals and comedies to emotional dramas, highlighting her chameleon-like ability for adapting to whatever a role demands. The actor hasn’t just starred in lots of acclaimed movies, though; she has also lent herself to many great television shows, like Big Little Lies and Only Murders in the Building.
It was during the filming of the latter in 2023 that she was able to shoot a scene she never thought she’d be able to do anymore. Now in her 70s, Streep doesn’t get flooded with offers to play romantic leads – that’s something Hollywood typically reserves for younger actors – but her role in Only Murders in the Building gave her a chance to have a love-filled storyline.
The actor has starred in her fair share of romantic dramas in the past, but it had been a while since she’d played a character who was falling in love. Talking to Decider, John Hoffman, the show’s creator, revealed that Streep was reduced to tears after filming a romantic scene. He explained, “I remember one night we were shooting on the ferry in Episode 5 of Season 3. We shot until about two in the morning on the most gorgeous night in Manhattan.”
“I got off to gangplank there and Meryl was waiting and she had tears in her eyes and she said, ‘I just had to wait here for you to get off the boat to say thank you.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ and she said, ‘I just got to play a scene I really thought that the likes of which I wouldn’t have a chance to do. To play romantic scenes at this age with this band in this way, it’s just the greatest thing ever.’”
Streep’s love interest in the series is Martin Short’s Oliver Putnam, but it seems like the chemistry between them on-screen was too strong to ignore, with the pair now dating in real life.
