Meryl Streep op-ed in The Onion
This is classic: “Meryl Streep” writing an op-ed piece in “The Onion” called “Name One Masterpiece of Cinema That I’ve Starred In”:
My friends and I were sitting around yesterday having a casual conversation about how the one thing all great actors have in common is that they have all starred in at least one classic piece of cinema. For my good friend Al Pacino it’s obviously The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon. For Robert De Niro there’s Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. And for Diane Keaton, a no-brainer: Annie Hall.
The one actor who truly stumped us, however, was me. Now, I know I’m a good actress. I’m Meryl Streep. I’ve won two Academy Awards, and I have been nominated for 15. That’s a record. But what my friends and I figured out is that the name Meryl Streep isn’t really synonymous with one truly unforgettable film. It’s weird to think about, but it’s undeniably true.
Go ahead, try and name a classic movie I’ve starred in. Not a classic character I’ve portrayed, mind you, but an overall amazing piece of cinema. You can’t. You just can’t.
“Meryl” runs through a list of movies — Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, The Deerhunter, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County, The River Wild, The Devil Wears Prada — berating them all. And “she” makes this funny observation:
The annoying thing about all of this is that I’ve worked with directors who have produced some of the finest films in American cinema. I’m just not in any of them. I do a movie with Robert Altman, but it’s A Prairie Home Companion. Mike Nichols calls me up, not for Carnal Knowledge, but Heartburn. Does anyone in the world other than Mike Nichols own the DVD of Heartburn?
Great stuff. As wonderful as she’s been in her dramatic roles, I’ve always thought that Streep is one of the most gifted comic actors — ever.
I always regret that my first year at Yale grad school was the year after Meryl Streep left the Yale Drama School. I had a couple of friends there who were really into the theater scene and they raved about this former students — Streep — who knocked every role she played in out of the park.
And how does “Ms. Streep” end her op-ed piece?
So here we are. I’m 60 years old without a One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest or Bonnie And Clyde to my name. Meryl Streep: “Great actress, okay movies.”
That’s surely an unfair statement, yes? I mean Silkwood? Adaptation? I still remember the first time I saw her in a movie, this scene from Manhattan:
Well, if “Meryl” gets all morose, she can always go here to perk herself up.
What’s your favorite Meryl Streep role?