Hollywood is no place for older women—or is it? In the cover profile of Vanity Fair’s upcoming January 2010 issue, Leslie Bennetts investigates the mystery of how, at age 60, Meryl Streep has become the industry’s “new box-office queen.”
The evidence is indisputable:
• Her 2008 screen musical Mamma Mia!, Bennetts writes,“has grossed $601 million worldwide, despite some cringe-worthy reviews (for the movie, not its much-lauded heroine).”
• The Devil Wears Prada, also from 2008, in which Streep played a demanding fashion-magazine editrix, has raked in $324 million around the world.
• And Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, released earlier this year, has earned $121 million and counting.
Producers hope for comparable results from It’s Complicated, a Christmas release featuring a love triangle between Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. All this unexpected success has had the effect of exploding several long-standing myths:
• There is no life after 40 for women in Hollywood. Au contraire! “It’s incredible—I’m 60, and I’m playing the romantic lead in romantic comedies!” Streep says to Bennetts. “Bette Davis is rolling over in her grave.” And while Streep’s success is no guarantee that other actresses will fare any better than they traditionally have, it’s a step in the right direction. “She broke the glass ceiling of an older woman being a big star—it has never, never happened before,” says Mike Nichols.
• Talent of Meryl Streep’s caliber should be reserved for dramatic roles. Who says? Sure, she made her name jerking tears in prestige dramas and has accumulated more Oscar and Golden Globe nominations than any other actor, male or female, but she’s always had a lighter side too. (Bennetts unearths a Time-magazine quote from 1989 that reads, “Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose.”) And it turns out that the same meticulous approach that made her a great dramatic actress works in comedy as well. Ephron, who directed Streep in Julie & Julia, says, “I would love to take credit for that amazing performance, but the truth is that she had read everything about Julia Child, she played the cooking tapes over and over between setups … and she even suggested that I cast Stanley Tucci as her husband.”
• There’s no money in making movies for women, particularly older ones.
Regarding Mamma Mia! and its aforementioned box-office haul of more than a half-billion dollars, Streep says, “It’s so gratifying because it’s the audience that nobody really gives a shit about.”
But it’s not just about money. In the end, Streep tells Bennetts, “I’m very fucking grateful to be alive. I have so many friends who are sick or gone, and I’m here. Are you kidding? No complaints!”
The article is illustrated with 30 years’ worth of portraits by Brigitte Lacombe, who describes Streep as someone who lacks any sense of vanity. “Beauty is everything,” she says. “You want to have someone who will also be funny, who will also be moving, who will also be intelligent—someone who will have some contribution to bring, not just a look. Meryl is interesting; she is very funny and very smart.”
Lacombe also says that she doesn’t think there is ever a moment when Streep “is enjoying the process of being photographed. Most actresses, or women, will find a moment where they enjoy being looked at, if it is in the best light and with good intent. I don’t think Meryl has that moment—ever. She’s not interested in looking more beautiful or making more time so we can do better. I understand not wanting to be in front of the camera; for somebody very well known, it’s a complete bore and an imposition. I’m sure she sees that as Being Meryl Streep, and it’s not such an interesting part to play for her. She has a lot of patience and enjoyment if she is in character, but not if she’s herself.”
Streep’s explanation to Bennetts is simpler: “I hate to have my picture taken!”
Click here to see a slide show of Brigitte Lacombe’s portraits of Meryl Streep.
To read more about Meryl Streep, and learn more about the ways in which her incredible third-act success is overturning Hollywood’s assumptions, pick up a copy of Vanity Fair’s January issue, out December 2 in New York and Los Angeles and December 8 nationwide.
