Meryl Streep

[Atreides]

Feb 9, 2011 22:34:33 GMT -4 kali said:

I think Meryl needs to actually be in a great movie to win an Oscar. She's continually in films where she's the only really good thing in them. And sometimes that wins awards, but I think with Meryl people want more than just a good performance. It's easier to win an Oscar if the film is propping you up. When she's in a film that can get a Best Picture/Director nomination, I think she'll win again. But for that to happen, she needs to work with a great director, a Paul Thomas Anderson or the Coen Bros. or something. And either because many directors aren't interested in doing films with older actresses or because she's not interested in them, this hasn't happened. I'd just love to see her under a GOOD director again. I don't think it's coincidence that the last time she was really a serious threat for the Oscar, she was in Adaptation being directed by Spike Jonze.

I thought Doubt was that movie. While it didn't get a Best Picture nomination (which I thought it should have gotten), it got four acting nominations, including one of course for Meryl.

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And she won the SAG Award for Doubt as well, for about minute there some folks thought she might have a shot at beating Kate Winslet.

[kali]

But Doubt also got slammed for being badly directed and Meryl's/Amy's performances were mocked by a lot of industry people for being too hammy. So again, had a more solid director been involved, i wonder if we might have seen a different result.

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I don't think it makes any difference what director she works with or how hammy or non-hammy her performance is. I think she's just taken for granted. If Meryl pulls off a flawless accent, a sharp comedic role, or a stunning transformation, well, that's just Meryl. It's not considered a big deal when she delivers the goods. No one expected Charlize Theron to be great in anything, so when she was jaw-droppingly awesome in "Monster", academy voters took notice. Meryl's received a lot of nominations but she's also been overlooked some years for ones that probably would have got a nom if another actress had done them and done them as well. She also has to fight against the misconception that she always wins. A lot of people, including industry folk I'd bet, assume she has tons of Oscars at home and don't realize she's gone a quarter century without one.

[divasahm]

Was it Sandra Bullock last year who said there should be a Best Actress category and a Meryl Streep category?

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I'm glad she's not in the Oscar race this year although she might have prevented the Natalie win.

But I'm not a Meryl fan and I can't stand her during award season so I don't mind her not being there for once. The only reason is of course that she didn't have a film out, or she would have gotten a nom since she's the only actress her age who gets all the good parts.

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Feb 9, 2011 23:37:39 GMT -4 twopfan said:

SheDevil is one of my favorite movies ever.

I don't know how many times that I have watched "SheDevil". I love that movie. That one and the one with Kirstie Alley and John Larroquette where all of their family comes to stay with them. Those are great eighties comedies.

[kali]

Feb 10, 2011 10:48:29 GMT -4 @dguzpy said:

Meryl's received a lot of nominations but she's also been overlooked some years for ones that probably would have got a nom if another actress had done them and done them as well.

I think the reverse is also true too and that many years she's gotten in as a kind of obligatory "because it's Meryl" nomination whereas other actresses would've been ignored in the same performance.

Music of the Heart, One True Thing, Postcards from the Edge, even The Devil Wears Prada I think was only prestige enough to sneak in because of her name. (I do think that performance was totally Oscar worthy though. I just think comedic roles are often ignored from other actresses.)

[forever1267]

that scene in Paris in the hotel room MADE that performance Oscar - worthy for The Devil Wears Prada.

I haven't seen She-Devil in a long while, but I've never understood why Death Becomes Her hasn't been picked up as a Cult Classic. It's sooooo deliciously bitchy!!!

[talkbox]

She was GREAT in it. Both women kill each other and FINALLY make up, only to end up trying to help keep each other in one piece. The opening scene, with Hawn testing her boyfriend, hehe. And then Streep's character ends up stealing the surgeon husband and getting rich, then pushing her husband into becoming an undertaker.