The one Jane Fonda movie that made Meryl Streep want to quit acting: “Terrible mistake”
She’s widely regarded as the greatest female actor of all time, and Meryl Streep‘s career is chock full of masterful movie hits. Whether it is the critically acclaimed and generational Sophie’s Choice or the equally culturally relevant touchstone of The Devil Wears Prada, Streep has one of the most definitive filmographies in modern cinema. However, she is not without her missteps.
During a conversation with TV host Graham Norton, Streep once revealed the performance she regretted most. The role she despised the most was in Karel Reisz’s 1981 drama The French Lieutenant’s Woman. “I’m giving myself an out, but part of it was the structure of it,” Streep told Norton on his BBC show. “It was sort of artificial because I was the actress playing The French Lieutenant’s Woman. At the same time, I was an American actress playing a British woman.”
“I was young and new at this,” Streep added, discussing her limited experience at the time. “I didn’t feel like I was living it. You always want to do something better after the fact.”
While this movie may go down as a particularly bad effort from the three-time Academy Award winner, the picture didn’t put her off enough to make her want to quit acting. That may seem like a melodramatic reaction to having a bad turn on screen, but that’s the exact way Streep felt when she appeared in her debut movie Julia opposite Jane Fonda.
Streep was just a fledgling actor when she got the gig for Julia, a 1977 Fred Zinneman period piece starring Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Fonda. It was a big break for the soon-to-be star as she took up a role in a pivotal flashback scene. The cameo is a short and not-so-sweet one; however, many of the scenes Streep originally filmed were cut from the final production.
Unfortunately, the scene that wasn’t ripped from the reel left Streep feeling like she shouldn’t continue her career as an actor. She told Karin Longworth in her book Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor: “I had a bad wig and they took the words from the scene I shot with Jane and put them in my mouth in a different scene. I thought, ‘I’ve made a terrible mistake, no more movies. I hate this business.’”
To be cut from a movie is a difficult reality that so many actors have to face, but for Streep, it hit differently. She had been a renowned stage actor, and the transition from the boards to the studio floor is harder than most professionals imagine. It is a completely different set of muscles to be used, and with added rehearsal time and the vibrancy of an audience, both now suddenly removed, messing up on set is easier than most think.
To step onto any film set would have been daunting for the young professional, but to go under the studio lights with both Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave must have felt particularly daunting. In truth, as it would for so many others, for Streep, the experience felt somewhat otherworldly, and the detachment left her removed from her own impressive talent.
The movie would go on to earn three Academy Awards ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for Jason Robards, ‘Best Actress in a Supporting Role’ for Vanessa Redgrave, and ‘Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium’. While it still held painful memories for Streep, it wouldn’t hold her back from forging a career that few can argue with, becoming one of the most acclaimed actors in the world.
Watch the trailer for Julia below.
