After a pretty quiet year in terms of Meryl news, it seems she's all of a sudden in everything. She joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show to talk about, among other things, her upcoming film by director Adam McKay, Don't Look Up.
Filming has been underway in Boston for a couple weeks at this point. Sort of a strange way to have to go about it the way Meryl describes the process here.
I acquired access to the film's script, but at this point have only skimmed certain parts. I'll probably get around to it and provide a few thoughts on what I think the movie will look like (no spoilers) and what we might be able to expect from Meryl's performance/character. And of course, awards chances.
Until then, I cannot wait to have two consecutive nights of new Meryl movies starting in two days!
Dead Man Walking rounds out the third and final film for my recasting that was originally released in 1995. Being that it was filmed only six months prior to its release, it's the best fit to be pushed to '96. I dithered a bit on the possibilities for this year. Fargo is a great role for Frances McDormand, and it even takes place in my home state. But I never even saw it until a couple years ago, and for a long time I was sort of put off by how strange everyone's accents in the film seemed to me. Brenda Blethyn for Secrets and Lies, an incredibly well-received film and performance,also came to mind.
Ultimately, however, Susan Sarandon's Oscar-winning role of Sister Helen Prejean won out, and I'm happy with the choice (as I still really wanted to somehow be able to include Copycat and Dolores Claiborne from the same year).
There are a few main items that make this role appealing to me. Having already seen Meryl as Sister Aloysius in Doubt, we'd get to see a pretty sharp contrast in what I consider to be good and bad nuns. Not that Sister Aloysius is evil, but she sort or represents the stupid and bad stuff about Catholicism (with the exception of her drive to rid the school of what she thinks is a pedophile). She's a bastion of archaic values and adheres to rigid doctrine. Meanwhile, Helen Prejean, to me, represents what sadly seems to be the forgotten aspect of Christianity: acting like Jesus. I don't personally believe the dude was a god, but by what we know of what he preached in the Bible, there's some pretty good stuff in there.
Prejean helps convicted murderer Matthew Poncelet (brilliantly portrayed by Sean Penn) with his last chance of appeal. Without judgement, she serves as his spiritual advisor and ultimately helps him admit and take responsibility for the death of a young man and the rape of a young woman. The families of the victims are abhorred by her connection with Poncelet. It's here where I think Meryl would be particularly attracted to such a role. It's a tricky scenario and difficult thing to defend--communicating with a killer much less helping him commute his sentence.
I don't think I'd have much trouble saying "Ciao" to anyone who murdered a loved one of mine and was sentenced to death. There probably really are people who are just plain evil in the world. But I also can understand someone like Matthew Poncelet, or anyone else who had an abusive, wretched childhood, and goes down a dangerous spiral into crime. And while there's no excuse for killing an innocent person, I admire folks who somehow find the strength and maturity to forgive someone who owns up to brutal wrongs they've done.
Sarandon is wonderful in this role and I really enjoy the chemistry between her and Penn. I watched the movie for just the second time a few weeks back and I was surprised how touched I was by the emotion from both actors, as well as those who portray the victims' families and Poncelet's. The two leads' penultimate scene before the execution is particularly tense.
There's probably something wrong with me, but does anyone else feel a little bit of erotic tension between them? The facial expressions and the manner of speech from Sarandon borderline on romantic longing in some phrases. I don't expect that was intended, and the scene is still magnificent in spite of my own dumb distraction.
I think it would've been pretty tough for Meryl to land this role. After all, it was Sarandon's partner Tim Robbins who directed it and cast her in the lead role. The film and both her and Penn's performances were highly praised by critics. It sits at a whopping 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 80 on Metacritic.
Despite Sarandon's probably overdue status for an Oscar by the time 1995 rolled around, I'm convinced that the only reason Meryl didn't win for The Bridges of Madison County was the simple fact that she'd won twice already. I don't begrudge Sarandon her award--it was a lovely performance. But it was a year, along with Jodie Foster's win in 1988 and Sandra Bullock's in 2010, where a brilliant and possibly more deserving Streep performance came up short with the Academy.
My cup runneth over with Meryl having two films being released to streaming services next week! Numbers are dropping just a tad for The Prom, but first reviews for Steven Soderbergh's Let Them All Talk look very good.
With ten reviews in on Metacritic, the film sits at 72, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Over on Rotten Tomatoes, while there aren't a lot more reviews there (thirteen), it's at 100%!
Meryl's again getting good ink here, but it's a more subdued performance. More of the commentary is on Soderbergh's cinematography and the supporting performance by Candice Bergen. There's even a little Oscar buzz going around now for Bergin. While early December would normally be far too late to expect somebody to join the race, this is a special year. Globe and SAG nods won't even be announced until late February.
The media embargo for official film reviews was lifted for The Prom yesterday. At the time of this post, the film stands at 54 on Metacritic (fifteen reviews), and 75% on Rotten Tomatoes (41 reviews). Metacritic of course is more the "prestigious" of scores, as it's a weighted average of fewer, more prominent sources. Rotten Tomatoes is a bit more low brow, and tends to run higher than Metacritic.
There will be many more reviews of course, but so far, I'd say this is decent for a Ryan Murphy feature. Unsurprisingly, a lot of reviewers are comparing it to Glee. But a fair number are offering very favorable takes in the movie, generally praising it as a feel-good romp and something joyous that theater-starved audiences desperately need right now.
More important is that Meryl is getting pretty good ink here. She's given props for "having fun" and really "sinking her teeth into" the part. And her singing is being widely praised as well. A clip of her performance of "It's Not about Me" leaked in Twitter earlier, which I happened to catch. I have to agree she sounds amazing. Possibly the best I've ever heard her. The full soundtrack will be released digitally on December 4.
At this point, she's looking very good for a Globe nod, and may even possibly contend for the win.
The Prom will be streamed on Netflix starting next Friday, December 11.
Streep was joined by co-stars Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen for a virtual CBS Sunday Morning interview on their upcoming film, Let Them All Talk.
It's the most info we've gotten on the plot and the characters' histories and motivations. I'm actually looking more forward to this film than The Prom, if I'm being honest.
There's been so much confusion and misinformation on whether this picture is going to compete in the TV movie or feature film categories for awards. Sources at Awards Worthy seem to have info which suggests it is going to be campaigned in the film category. Gold Derby now also has it listed in its odds list for film nomination and wins. If it indeed will be considered a feature film, I think it bodes well for Meryl's nomination chances. The TV Movie/Limited Series category is always so packed for Lead Actress. With both The Prom and Let Them All Talk, Meryl has a realistic chance of getting double Golden Globe nominations in the same category (a feat she previously accomplished in 2010 for Julie & Julia and It's Complicated, winning for the former).
Let Them All Talk will stream on HBO Max on December 10.
Yes, there is indeed much to be thankful for. Netflix has released it's first full trailer for The Prom.
What a wonderful explosion of color and gayness. I have to admit, I don't expect much out of this film other than a good time, catchy tunes, and a little tug at the heartstrings. I'm game for all three.
I'm glad they put more focus on the teen lesbian couple than they did in the teaser. It is after all about them. Meryl looks amazing, even if she wasn't in the trailer all that much. It'll be a fun surprise seeing her solo performances. Nicole Kidman's accent was distracting, and I didn't particularly get good vibes from the few clips they showed of Kerry Washington. That's tough in a trailer like this one, though. It's a tad manic and there's so little chance to really process what you've seen at first.
I've had a morbid fascination with serial killers since I was in my early teens. Maybe it was my affinity for The Silence of the Lambs. Or perhaps the fact that I can remember Jeffrey Dahmer being in the news so much the summer before I entered sixth grade. Horror films of the 80s ran rampant with boogeymen-like slashers like Jason Voorhies, Michael Myers, and my all-time favorite, Freddy Krueger. But those depictions were such stylized, almost campy portrayals that, while probably based on real killers, felt a bit clowny as I got older.
With the advent of more realistic, and ultimately scary murderers on screen in the 90s like Hannibal Lecter, there was more focus on the minds and motivations of these elusive creatures--a character who makes us think a bit more about how a human being can turn out like that. We could imagine the real possibility that we might actually know one of these guys (or girls) without ever knowing it.
The 1995 films Seven and Copycat captured this appeal for me. Both are films I actually saw in the theater, with Copycat being the first from this recasting project. Sigourney Weaver has commented that she is most proud of her work in this film, portraying the agoraphobic criminal psychologist, Dr. Helen Hudson. I think it would be a delicious role for Meryl.
After Helen is nearly killed by escaped prisoner Daryll Lee Cullum (creepily played by Harry Connick Jr.), she secludes herself in a fancy apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area. Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney are detectives who seek Helen's help in catching a serial killer, whose modus operandi is copying famous serial killers like the Boston Strangler, the Hillside Strangler, and Son of Sam. Helen is very reluctant at first, spending her days with the shades drawn, a drink in her hand, and her computers logged in to chat rooms (which by the way seemed SUPER advanced at the time this film was released). But she eventually relents, and ends up realizing she's the main muse of the killer they're all trying to capture.
I probably watched this movie about fifty times before going to college. I loved how it gave us a bit a history on a few of the more notorious serial killers of the 20th century. And nothing's scarier than being able to imagine so vividly a dangerous thing realistically happening. The scenes where the killer is actually in Helen's apartment, both with and without her knowing, were particularly intense for me. It seemed so easy to think "just get the hell out!" But Helen can't. She's paralyzed by her fear of the outside, to the point of almost losing consciousness if she tries to take even a few steps beyond the threshold of the front door. I can't even imagine the terror of being a prisoner in your own home, on top of the overwhelming anxiety already present that serves as the watchful guard preventing you from escaping.
I would've loved to see Meryl and Holly Hunter going head to head in this. Their interaction starts out a bit cold, and I absolutely love how prickly Weaver portrays Hudson at times. The snotty head movements she gives when having to field a question she finds either too naive or too bold. But they form a great team eventually.
It's easy to see how Meryl would not have been the first choice for this film. She hasn't historically done thriller or action or gun movies. But there's a lot to do with the character of Dr. Helen Hudson. I'm having trouble thinking of role where Streep would have to portray fear this often. And it's a complicated fear. of course, especially when portraying a brilliant woman who was probably excruciatingly rational and in control prior to her violent encounter with Cullum. There's a paradox in that which I bet Meryl would've enjoyed negotiating.
Weaver bemoaned the fact that Copycat sort of got "lost in the shuffle of thrillers" at the time. No doubt she's referring to David Fincher's Seven, one of my all time favs and a superior film to Copycat in my opinion. But she's probably right. Copycat is under-remembered and underappreciated. It had a decent show at the box office, again something that likely would've been stronger had it not been up against films in a similar genre at the exact same time. And it was generally well-received by critics, many of them praising the dynamite performances of its two tough, female leads.
