Meryl Streep with the Academy Award for her role in the film «The Iron Lady», 2012. Photo: AP
It was the most familiar sight of awards season. Decade after decade: Meryl Streep walks the red carpet. Spring hardly comes without a Streep nomination breaking through the topsoil somewhere.
Even when the Oscars gave her an extra year off, those cheerleaders from the (slightly crappier) Golden Globes came to the rescue, choosing to praise one of Streep's comedy bits, or they applauded her recent turn into quality television. instead.
It's no surprise that, given the 33 (!!) nominations she's received so far from her last body, Streep managed to snag one this year — Best Supporting Actress on Television for her guest star turn. Martin-Short plays the role of a failed actor in the film «Only Murders in the Building.» By the standards of this titan of his craft, a three-time Oscar winner, it was an insignificant footnote in the annals of fame. Two months ago, she lost to Elizabeth Debicki for The Crown.
Since then, the only thing unpredictable on the road to the Oscars is the appearance of Streep as a mere passenger — just an all-time great who calmly tags along behind him. She found it hard to resist attending red carpet events, whether as part of the Devil Wears Prada reunion at the SAG Awards or as a guest of her brother-in-law Mark Ronson. He co-wrote Barbie's «I'm Just Ken,» which looks set to take second place at the Oscars behind another Barbie song (the truly great Billie Eilish song «What I Was Made For»).
Not that Streep has a tendency to break a sweat even in the years when she's had a chance at stardom, but she's certainly earned a break, and she's showing every sign of enjoying this period as a plus. Participating in the hype must be much more enjoyable when the pressure is off: no need to worry about chatting with the press, no need to wait for the envelope to open to reveal that you've just lost for the 18th time, while you're beaming with an always sincere delight. for the winner. (This Oscar record: She won Best Actress twice for Sophie's Choice and The Iron Lady, and Best Supporting Actress once for Kramer vs. Kramer. With 17 more nominations in total, that's means Meryl actually lost more than twice as many times as Glenn Close did.)
Meryl Streep ate pizza at the 2014 Oscars. when she was nominated for an award by The Post. Credit: Getty
Streep usually makes it look like being Meryl Streep is easy. This may not always be the case. She and her husband Don Gummer recently went public with the news that they had quietly separated for six years. There has been no mention of divorce, but it is quite possible that one is brewing.
The same period, six years, coincides with a strange and shocking episode of future pub trivia. It's been a while since Streep received her last Oscar nomination for Steven Spielberg's The Post in 2018. This is the longest period of time she has gone without a nomination since her very first nomination for The Deer Hunter (1978). Like a bougainvillea deprived of sunlight, what even happens to Streep, deprived of Oscar attention?
Meryl Streep with her son-in-law Mark Ronson at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Photo: Getty
In any case, she seems completely serene. If you look at her film roles lately, they are mostly light and straightforward. She enjoys singing (Ricki and the Flash, Into the Woods, Mary Poppins Returns, The Prom). Even her potential awards-bait supporting roles—Greta Gerwig's Little Women and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up—didn't work hard to stand out. None of these roles got much of a boost in the nominations that these roles easily could have gotten if Streep had really felt it and gone all out.
It's hateful to blame Meryl Streep for coasting (even if the shoes fit), and we can never rule out that a menacing, powerful role is just around the corner, waiting to take us all by surprise. If only it could live up to the level of Silkwood or Bridges of Madison County, wow.
But she hasn't made a movie since she played the gallery opposite her corrupt US President in Don't Look Up three years ago. She last tried her hand at a dramatic role in HBO's Big Little Lies in 2019, and it was the definition of a safe bet on the ensemble: «Come in, the water's full of A-list actresses diving into trauma, you can't miss it.» .
All legendary stars need a break — moments to take stock. But Streep was so prolific over such long periods of her career—especially the epic 1980s—that it's hard to imagine her being content to rest on her laurels for long. The very thought of Meryl Streep approaching retirement, no matter how comfortable and well-deserved it may be for her, is existentially painful for everyone else.
Tina Fey once joked that “there really are great roles in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps is over 60.» But now we have to start asking – what about 70? 75? (It's only been a year.) Or have we just entered a whole new era? There was the Pleistocene, the Anthropocene, and now we're in what's called the one that follows Meryl Streep's rise to the Oscars. Let's hope this is just a glimpse.
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