With the start of the award-season accolades for Meryl Streep, which began Sunday night at the Golden Globes (this time for The Iron Lady), I’m reminded of how often this crown jewel amongst American actresses has been passed over for performances that her peers could only dream of aspiring to. The 2010 Academy Awards were the lowest case in point, when Sandra Bullock bested Streep and her flawless interpretation of Julia Child in Julie & Julia. Could anyone else, much less Bullock, have crafted such a memorable take on that idiosyncratic icon of the American kitchen? (Bullock’s role in The Blind Side could have been played by a younger Streep in her sleep.)
Likewise, it wasn’t until last month that the Kennedy Center finally made Streep an honoree at its year-end gala, despite previously bestowing it on others less obviously deserving (Steve Martin and Dolly Parton, to name but two).
And in another example of “overlooking the Streep,” one remembers that despite a record 17 nominations, 2012 will mark almost 30 years since Streep’s last Best-Actress Oscar (for 1982’s Sophie’s Choice) and that, incredibly, Hilary Swank (and Jodie Foster and Sally Field, for that matter) actually hold more Best-Actress statuettes (two) than their far more luminous colleague.
And while I’m on a roll, let’s not forget just a few of the films for which Streep did not win the Oscar (regretful trivia): Silkwood, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County, and more recently, Doubt and The Devil Wears Prada.
Nothing like taking greatness for granted.
So it takes Streep’s astonishing rendition of the first female British prime minister to give her her re-due. Much like watching a virtuoso violinist working a Stradivarius, Streep’s artistry is a bravura of technical brilliance, nuance, and yes, feeling (some critics, like the noted Pauline Kael, often complained of the actress’ style as being somewhat aloof, a characterization that unfairly dogged Streep for years.) After her performance as Margaret Thatcher, you realize again that there’s really nothing Streep can’t do; you come away amazed and grateful at the opportunity to experience a consummate maestra at a peak of her powers.
One hopes for future portrayals not necessarily based on historical or cultural figures, but, for me, seeing her in Iron Lady sort of demands that Streep eventually play the 16th-Century English monarch, Elizabeth I, in middle age. (Never mind she runs the risk of being parodied as the “Rich Little” of American acting, as a sibling irreverently put it.)
Still, I’d settle for Streep reading the Yellow Pages compared to the some of the stuff that passes for acting these days. And how rewarding to see our own “Dame Meryl” once more receiving the bows she so richly deserves.
[Postscript 2/26/12: Streep (finally) wins her third Oscar, at the 2012 Academy Awards.]
M u s i n g s 