Recasting (supporting) project preview

In the early months of the pandemic, I began a Streep recasting project that spanned over forty years of movies. With one selection for each calendar year, I meant it to be a realistic sort of alternative or parallel career Meryl could've feasibly had, were she not to have done the movies of her actual filmography. This is not to be confused of course with my "reimagined filmography," which more reimagines what her career could've looked like if a handful of additions and subtractions were made to canon (the additions being roles for which she was at least obliquely connected to but never starred in, the subtractions being either stinkers or movies I just didn't really care if she'd never been in)--a sort of best-case-scenario look back of what wasn't wildly unrealistic had the chips fallen slightly differently over the years. The recasting project required no such connection to the films' casting histories. In fact, for only a handful of my recasting choices could I find information that she was in consideration. That difference was part of the fun. 

With the exception of two selections early on, all of the recasting choices were lead roles. It didn't seem super realistic to put her in high-profile leading lady projects when she would've been a total newcomer. We're coming up on a year since i finished that project last summer. I had indicated at the time that I expected to do a second iteration of the project, but this time with only supporting roles. Well, there's no better time than the present! I've had the entire list of which projects I plan to select complete for many months now (save one or two recent changes). It's been fun rewatching many of them to refresh my memory on the performances/characters. A few were projects that I'd never seen, but knew enough about that they intrigued me as potentially interesting roles. 

Similar to the original recating project (and Meryl's actual career in general), I made an effort to make selections that cover rather broad territory. Perhaps my favorite thing about watching Meryl is the wide variety of people we get to witness her inhabiting. With that in mind, not only did I attempt to choose roles that would provide an opportunity for interpreting a unique character, but also some projects specifically because of when or where the story takes place, by whom they were directed, and with whom she would get to co-star. Sometimes it's a bit of a combo of all these. And at the same time, they're often choices that are simply personal favorites, within the confines of my "guidelines" of course. As a result, some of the selections might seem a little wacky or unexpected (ranging from glorified cameos to borderline lead performances). But I assure you, they'll never be boring. 

Gird your loins, Streepers. Let's have some fun.