Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
She's a better choice for that role than she is for Callas.
Edit: My question is answered in the other thread about Streep/Callas.
Updated On: 7/10/14 at 07:25 PM
I officially have Meryl fatigue!
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"I officially have Meryl fatigue!"
Me too.
I don't get the fatigue. Below is her last four years, according to imdb. Perhaps all the attention being given to Into The Woods on BWW is having a negative impact on Streep's image among BWWers? Or is it that her recent projects (Osage, ITW, Callas) has been adaptations of stage work?
From IMDB:
2013 August: Osage County
Violet Weston
2012 Hope Springs
Kay
2012 Web Therapy (TV Series)
Camilla Bowner
- Blindsides and Backslides (2012) ... Camilla Bowner
- Getting It Straight (2012) ... Camilla Bowner
2011 The Iron Lady
Margaret Thatcher
2010 Web Therapy (TV Series)
Camilla Bowner
- Reverse Psychology (2010) ... Camilla Bowner
- Healing Touch (2010) ... Camilla Bowner
- Aversion Therapy (2010) ... Camilla Bowner
2010 Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life (Video short)
Jennie (voice)
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
I've had Meryl fatigue since STILL OF THE NIGHT.
I don't love everything she does ("August: Osage," for example), but I'm still interested in seeing most everything she does. And I actually think this is a good fit.
Of course, I've been wrong before.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"I don't get the fatigue."
To paraphrase Don Black: "[Streep] is being hyped before the scripts are typed..."
She's playing Meryl Streep playing Tyne Daly playing Maria Callas.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Why did Meryl choose Tyne Daly's interpretation? Zoe Caldwell, Patti LuPone and Dixie Carter also had interesting interpretations.
I do agree that it's too bad she's the go-to for roles that were brilliantly played onstage by the likes of Cherry Jones and Zoe Caldwell (though the latter is far too old to play Callas now, of course).
Updated On: 7/11/14 at 11:39 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"I do agree that it's too bad she's the go-to for roles that were brilliantly played onstage by the likes of Cherry Jones and Zoe Caldwell"
But she's even getting the musical leads when there are more competent actresses (Mamma Mia, Into The Woods). I'm shocked she wasn't offered Sweeney Todd and Nine.
Whether you're tired of her or not (or never liked her to begin with), she's still one of the biggest box office draws, certainly for her age and sex. So it's not all that surprising.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"she's still one of the biggest box office draws"
And that's the problem. Everything is about money and artistic concerns take a back seat.
She is not only a big box office draw but she's an excellent actress. Some are box office draws and don't have the chops. She possesses both.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"...but she's an excellent actress."
When she has a good director. Her performance in Doubt was the hammiest performance committed to screen since Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure and Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest.
There are actresses who have consistently turned in much better performances than Meryl Streep. Dianne Wiest being one who is leagues ahead of Streep. (Can you imagine Wiest in Doubt? How perfect would that have been?)
Every actor has a couple of misfires in their repertoire. Streep is no exception.
"Dianne Wiest being one who is leagues ahead of Streep. (Can you imagine Wiest in Doubt? How perfect would that have been?)"
I bet Wiest would have been great! But that doesn't put her leagues ahead of Streep. I couldn't imagine Wiest in "Out of Africa," "French Lieutenant's Woman," or "Out of Africa," to take a few examples.
Can't it just be that you personally prefer Wiest's work to Streep's?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"Can't it just be that you personally prefer Wiest's work to Streep's?"
It could be if society would stop making Streep the Queen of all actresses. She may have box office draw, but she's misfired a few times.
I agree with Carlos in that everyone has a misfire. I saw Dianne Wiest years ago on Broadway in "Othello" and her performance stank. But I personally think that Wiest grounds her characters in a truthful reality whereas Streep adopts a fake accent, puts on a wig and reads her lines from a cue card.
Meryl Streep did NOT deserve the last Oscar that she won. That Oscar belonged to Viola Davis. I thought that "The Iron Lady" tried to be this all-inclusive biography as Margaret Thatcher. Parts of her performance were good, but overall, I feel that it may have been a consolation Oscar for something else they didn't give her an Oscar for...
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
I'd put Wiest ahead of Streep in that there are performances of Wiest's that I'd actually go out of my way to watch.
Which means I'd also put Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett, Gwen Welles, Marie Dressler, Bette Davis, Anouk Aimee, Margarita Terekhova, Audra McDonald, Holly Hunter, Maggie Smith, Eileen Brennan, Teresa Wright, Patricia Collinge, Mary Astor, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Lily Tomlin, Teri Garr, Diane Keaton, Lillian Gish, and a host of others I'm sure I'll think of after I click "update message" ahead of Meryl Streep.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"I'd put Wiest ahead of Streep in that there are performances of Wiest's that I'd actually go out of my way to watch."
Did you see the tv series "In Treatment"? I couldn't wait until they got to her segment each week because I thought she was so compelling. And when you're just sitting in a chair talking, you can't rely on any tricks. You have to be completely honest in your acting.
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