Saturday, September 24, 2022

What happened last summer?

The current lull in Meryl project news has been one of the longest I can remember since I started this blog. She took all of 2016 off from filming, but Florence Foster Jenkins came out that summer, she ended up getting nominated for it in the winter, and a few months later we had news of the The Post which was then released nine months later). She hasn't filmed a movie since late 2020 (maybe into January 2021). We're still waiting for news on when exactly Extrapolations will be released on Apple TV+, but even with that, her role in it may be small. 

All this recently got me thinking about the fact that as late as spring of 2021, a lot of us were reasonably expecting that Meryl would be filming Places, Please in the summer, with the additional possibility of two supporting roles in Damien Chazelle's Babylon and Ari Aster's Disappointment Blvd. Both of the latter two projects filmed in the summer.  And with them both being smaller roles, I suspect Meryl's filming contract could've carved out schedule for her to participate had she wanted to. Alas, Places, Please never happened and Jean Smart and Patti LuPone ended up taking the roles Meryl would've likely been up for in Babylon and Disappointment Blvd., respectively.

The fact that Places, Please was announced in February 2021 with an expected summer filming schedule (director attached) makes me think that they had all the financing in place. There may have been other people already cast as well for all we know. If memory serves, Smart and LuPone were both announced fairly late, relative to the rest of their respective cast members and projected filming schedules. So it makes me wonder when pulling it all together: did something happen last summer?

This is all speculative, of course. But it doesn't seem that wild to picture a life event that may have made Meryl unavailable for several months mid last year. Maybe a health issue, maybe a family issue, maybe some other personal reason. I doubt it would've been because of any Covid reason, as she seemed on board to film Places, Please and she had shot Don't Look Up a few months prior when cases were surging. And then she did a fair amount of press late last year for Don't Look Up, so she seemed fine then.

Whatever reason it didn't start as planned, maybe Places, Please lost some of the cast they had in place and they couldn't just pick up where they had left off this year instead. Maybe Meryl just wanted a longer break and had decided to say no to the aforementioned projects or even others we've never heard of. Or maybe she was never actually cast in Babylon or Disappointment Blvd. and Places, Please just ended up going into development hell. The latter scenario is probably the most plausible. But of course I can't help my brain from wondering, and then of course typing those hypotheses into this blog! 

Fingers crossed we get some news about something (anything!) soon. 

14 comments:

  1. Meryl's most recent recorded appearance was at just concluded Emmy Awards in a clip when Geena Davis won Governor's award. Very brief seconds. But yes the void is tad too long..

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  2. You can read about Meryl on Steve Wermiel's facebook page, she showed up for an event looking normal 6 days ago!

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  3. I think she is working in being a grandmother and waiting for Streep fatigue to subside so she can return in glorious fury. I do not understand why she is not doing Broadway plays. All she has to do is tell her agent she wants to do a play, and she is in and would win a Tony. Either she is about to announce retirement or she just wants to work every few years.

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  4. I think it may be a mix of all the things you speculate (rest, family, and development issues). I am relieved to see her looking well if her recent appearance. If she does not commit to something by end of year, then I will once again grow nervous. I'd love to see her do a TV series at this point rather than more supporting roles in film - mostly to feed our lack!

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  5. I'm reading all the raves and backstories for Cate Blanchett's performance in TAR (I think the Oscar is hers to lose at tis stage), wondering two things about our Meryl - 1. Has any director/writer created a role for her and nobody else, which means they will not film it until Meryl agrees to it? Like Cate for Todd Field who said that if Cate had not agreed, he would have not filmed it and I believe him given his sparse filmography. 2. Has Meryl won any Festival awards (Venice, Cannes, etc) apart from the Berlin one given to her, Nicole and Julianne for The Hours? Cate and Isabelle have won tons of these festival awards so I read. I don't recall Meryl attending any of these festivals of late.

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    1. I caught TAR. The audience and critics are right. Cate is phenomenal! Her third Oscar is on the way. Hopefully, we see Meryl coming back with a bang next year.

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    2. I'm excited to see it. Would love to see Meryl in something that is similarly lauded for both the movie itself and the performance. I read somewhere recently that while Streep has many great performances, she hasn't been part of a masterpiece film. I'd argue that Angels in America is a masterpiece, if not a film and not a single performance from Meryl. Some other great films, too, but maybe not the magic combo. Adaptation? But she's not the main character. Same with Kramer. Sophie's Choice is almost a masterpiece simply because of Meryl's performance. But not quite the show sha-bang.

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    3. I agree with you. Angels in America is a masterpiece and Meryl's performances as the rabbi, Eleanor and the mother of the gay son are tour de force. Too bad it's on TV and not on the big screen at that time.

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    4. Having now seen TÁR (an astonishing performance in a brilliant film), I wish Meryl had the Cate Blanchett opportunity - where directors like Todd Field (audacious, provocative ones - and I'm not talking Adam McKay) would create roles for Meryl that are robust and complex, and NOT larger than life (to show what she can do at an eleven) and when they are large, which Lydia Tar is, it's represented in subtler and quieter ways. I do think Cate is a serious contender for her third golden boy, which will tie her with Meryl. Which made me think that the longer Meryl takes to come back, the more likely it is to come with a narrative that could take her to her fourth if the role is right, like a TÁR or even a meaty supporting role.

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  6. I just know she was a slam dunk for Julie & Julia but the role wasn't created for her alone.

    Off the top of my head Meryl also has a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award for "A Cry In The Dark", from "the big 3" film festivals. Cate actually won the Volpi Cup at Venice twice (the other for "I'm Not There) but hasn't won at the other two festivals. Julianne Moore is won of a select few who've won Best Actress at all three.

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    1. Oh yes she won the Cannes prize in 1989...I wonder why some of her Oscar-worthy movies did not make it to the festival circuit...I'm sure she would have picked up a few more trophies.

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    2. I agree, her movies such as Doubt, Madison County, Postcards, Out Of Africa, Adaptation may have done well at the big festivals. I guess its timing and whether they are accepted, along with the Producers feeling the movie needs that kick.

      I'd love for Meryl to complete the trifecta with a Volpi Cup!

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  7. Mamie had second child in LA and Grace had her first child in NY. So I think Meryl just wanted to be there for both of them. I'm sure she will come back strong soon.

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  8. No not Mamie, it's Henry who had second child this past summer. So mainly i think her grandma things made her stop working longer than usual.

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