“I was kind of in awe”: How Robert Redford left Meryl Streep starstruck
Anyone who steps onto a film set with Meryl Streep is guaranteed to be intimidated. Even her daughter, Mamie Gummer, who appeared with her at the age of three in the 1986 film Heartburn, must have been absolutely terrified to stand opposite the Oscar winner. And no matter how silent and stone-faced Clint Eastwood looks, there is no question that that man was quaking in his boots when they filmed The Bridges of Madison County together.
It doesn’t matter how self-effacing or personable Streep is. She’s one of the most respected actors of her generation, and that comes with the burden of being intimidating. Her list of awards is too long to enumerate, and she’s been putting in powerhouse performances for six decades, from Kramer vs. Kramer to Devil Wears Prada to Little Women.
Any time Streep appears in a film, you can guarantee it will be worth seeing, even if her performance is the only saving grace. She had the good sense to avoid a role in Cats, but even if she had been forced into a genderless leotard, she would no doubt have made that cinematic catastrophe as entertainingly shambolic as it should have been.
These days, Streep is synonymous with virtuosic acting. Like the best directors, other stars take movie roles just to have the chance to work with her. She’s probably too busy awing people to be impressed by anyone these days, but early in her career, she too could be starstruck. During a 2007 interview with Emanuel Levy, the 21-time Oscar nominee revealed that when she worked with Robert Redford on the 1985 romance Out of Africa, she was a little bit terrified.
“Back then, he was this kind of huge, gigantic star,” she said, “And I was, I don’t know, kind of in awe of him.”
At the time, Redford was at the top of his game. He shot to fame as Paul Newman’s youthful sidekick in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting in the 1960s and ‘70s and won an Oscar for the latter. By the time he played Streep’s free-spirited lover in Out of Africa, he had already established himself as a serious producer with All the President’s Men and director with Ordinary People. It made sense in this context that Streep would be intimated, at least until you consider her resumé. She had five Oscar nominations and two wins under her belt and had already done several of her most acclaimed films, including Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice.
In other words, she and Redford were more or less perfectly matched for the film. In Out of Africa, Streep plays a Danish plantation owner in early 20th-century Kenya who falls in love with an independent bachelor, played by Redford. Directed by Sydney Pollack, it had a knockout pedigree and, not surprisingly, swept the Oscars. Streep was nominated for yet another award, while Pollack won for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture.’ She might have been intimidated by her co-star at first, but Streep outflanked him in the movie and during awards season.
