Transcription of podcast:

What would Meryl do?

Brian Timoney with Joe Ferrera

July 2016

Meryl Streep – What makes her such a good actress?

Meryl Streep is undoubtedly one of the best actresses of all time, but what exactly is it about her that enables her to produce such incredible performances each and every time? What techniques does she use? How does she manage to convey the characters she plays so convincingly? In this episode, Brian and Joe discuss all this, and much more.

Things you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why Meryl Streep has had such a long and successful career • More about Meryl’s most memorable performances • The effect she has on aspiring actors and why • What makes Meryl Streep’s acting so worthy of acclaim • What actors can take from Meryl’s performances • The personal effect she has had on Brain and Joe

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Full Transcript

One man – One mission: To rid the world of low-standard and mediocre acting, once and for all.

Brian Timoney, the world’s leading authority on Method Acting, brings you powerful, impactful, volcanic acting and ‘business of acting’ techniques in his special Acting Podcasts.

It’s Brian Timoney’s World of Acting – unplugged and unleashed.

Brian: Hi everyone. It's Brian Timoney here and welcome on to today's podcast and I have Joe with me. Welcome Joe.

Joe: Thank you very much for having me Brian. Hello everyone!

Brian: And today, we are going to speak about somebody quite special, Joe.

Joe: Yes.

Brian: Who is Meryl Streep?

Joe: Ooooooooh!

Brian: So, the lovely Meryl who has had an amazing career…

Joe: Yeah...

Brian: And is quite a special actress.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: And before anything, I'd better clear this up because I just said 'actress'.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: You know, I got an email not long ago from somebody that said, you can't call them - you can't call a female actor actress. You can't do that.

Joe: (laughs)

Brian: It's sexist.

Joe: (laughs in the background).

Brian: and you know there's negative connotations to that. Page 3

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: And I went what? And basically, in reply to that, the Academy Awards have categories and it's actor, actress and various other things so it's a convenient way for us to differentiate between the sexes, alright.

Joe: That's it.

Brian: So, let's just get over that stuff.

Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just like an easier way for us to help each other.

Brian: Exactly! Exactly. So actor or actress, she's a person right.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: So, yeah. Where to begin with Meryl.

Joe: Why have we chosen her?

Brian: Why Meryl? Right, well, I think, I mean obviously she's an amazing actress but it goes beyond that.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: doesn't it, because there are great actors out there. I think Meryl Streep brings a quality to her acting that and compassion and empathy that is quite rare.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: She's also very good at creating distinct and different characters in a very believable way.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: I mean, I'll tell you how I first came to know Meryl Streep. I think I was about seven or eight and I don't know how I ended up going to see this film because I was probably too young to see it but I went to see Kramer vs Kramer,

Joe: Right.

Brian: and that had a massive impact on me at that age, you know. I was like, it was quite an upsetting film actually but Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman were both amazing in the film. Page 4

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: And I think that when I watched it, what did I think of her? I think that you're left in no doubt that she is that person.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: You know, she really plays it for the reality of who they are,

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: and there's a depth, as well. It's not surface. It's like she really goes deep with characters, and she's able to communicate that

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: which not just through the words but through her behaviour.

Joe: (agrees in the background)

Brian: and I think that makes her quite special. What about you, Joe? When was the first time you saw Meryl Streep?

Joe: Right, when did I first encounter Meryl? Right, well, you know, I didn't understand the craft at all and the art of it, and so, it sort of was passing me by and I watched a film about a million years ago, by sort of coincidence and it was Out of Africa for some reason. Of all the things you know, like Out of Africa, if you know me like I'm the least sort of Out of Africa kind of viewer, or like audience member and I saw it!

And I just thought, when I left the cinema I was like, and I don't even know why I got there. Why watch that? I don't know. Probably because I was bunking off school or something, right and it was like the only thing that was on. And I literally remember how amazing she was and that's because I didn't have any concept you know, obviously Robert Redford's in it and it's just a brilliant, brilliant film. If I'm not mistaken, it's directed by Sydney Pollack, right. You know, unbelievable film! It's Sydney Pollack or Sidney Lumet, it will come to me. And I just thought, "Wow! This woman was amazing and she really just brought something like you know, an unbelievable sense of reality in context." And then, I think if I'm not mistaken, see it gets a bit murky. That's why we're like really like on the spot, I like to put ourselves on the spot. These podcasts are like really, you know we're really thinking on our feet guys. And if I'm not mistaken, she dyed her hair a different colour, and then I saw her in something else, a poster of her for something else. And I didn't know it was the same woman, I couldn't really - you know my depth of understanding wasn't that varied at that time to be able to go, "Oh, that's another person."

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Brian: (agrees in the background)

Joe: I just thought of didn't even recognize it and then the other film, whatever it was, I can't remember now off the top of my head. I just remembered that, that can't be the same woman that was in that film. There's no way because she looked totally different and yet, it wasn't like she'd had a prosthetic nose and this and that and had gone though some procedure. It was literally just I think she had a different hair colour.

Brian: (agrees in the background)

Joe: And she's always, always stayed with me in terms of like her ability to do something and I think that all of us, all of us who are working actors or who are aspiring actors which are maybe the people out there, you should not be afraid to look at someone who has had the career and what have they done to get that career. And Meryl Streep to me just sums up the whole beauty and concept and understanding of being an actor. The sensitivity, the creativity, the revelation, the sheer artistry of the woman. I mean, if you see her in The Deer Hunter and you see her in The Devil Wears Prada you know, and fill in the gaps, just go and watch anything that she's in. I'm just flabbergasted, Brian. I just think literally sometimes, I'm reading a script going what would Meryl do.

Brian: Yeah (laughs)

Joe: I'm like going, "What would Meryl Streep do here?"

Brian: That's not a bad way to come at it. It's like, how would Meryl deal with this.

Joe: What would Meryl do?

Brian: Yeah.

Joe: So therefore, I've hand the opportunity of like having a pencil moustache and really trying to change my look.

Brian: I think maybe we should write an acting book, Joe and it's just going to be called, "What would Meryl do?"

Joe: What would Meryl do, right. Just like she's so full of brilliance as a person, and what I also love about her and I am having a love fest because - yeah, I am. I wanna go up to her and give her a big kiss.

Brian: There's something you want to tell us about, right Joe. (laughs)

Joe: Yeah, I don't care. It's out there, it's out there, it's out there. I've got a secret crush on Meryl.

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Brian: She helped you through some difficult teenage years. (laughs)

Joe: She did help me through some difficult teenage years, right. And let it be known, that secret of how much I admire Meryl Streep was probably the same sort of secret that I wanted to become an actor, and she made that secret a reality because she was doing it and she, through her circumstances, allowed herself to become an actor. I'm going to swear, that was the fucking furthest thing for my truth was that I was allowed to become an actor. And somewhere, watching her go through this journey, has allowed me to become something in the acting profession and sorry, I'm ranting for once for a change, but look at her work. Really look at it. Find something that you've never thought that she was in, look at something that you haven't seen her in just to see and then pick something else that you haven't seen her in and see her work because the reality of it is, Brian, when you're talking about The Deer Hunter that's 1977. You know, she was doing, she's in something like - you were talking about it's complicated the other day, I remember.

Brian: Yeah.

Jobe: And how you said that she conveyed so much in one elevator scene and didn't speak a word.

Brian: (agrees in the background)

Joe: It can't be a coincidence that this work that she's put out can transcend you know, and then you were talking about Kramer vs Kramer, the 70s. Five decades now.

Brian: Yeah. You see, as we've been talking, I've been trying to get it clearer in my own mind the qualities of Meryl Streep. What is it that Meryl Streep does better than maybe most actors? And there's a couple of qualities that I think she's remarkable at conveying. One is thought - the thought processes of the character...

And cut! Okay, take five, people. Listen; if you want to get the transcript for today’s show and free access to Brian Timoney’s Online Method Acting Course, then go to the worldofacting.com and get your free gifts.

Okay, let’s get back on set. Lights. Camera. And... Action.

Brian: She has an amazing way to move from thought to thought even quite rapidly and convey that

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: She gets it across on the screen which is very difficult to do but she seems to be able to kind of really, rapidly go through series of thoughts and that to be picked up by the camera.

Joe: (agrees in the background)

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Brian: And the other thing that I think she does remarkably well is that she can make everything look very spontaneous. There's a spontaneity about her work - that quality. Because let's face it, a lot of time it's not entirely spontaneous because we've got a script and we know what's going to happen

Joe: Yeah, yeah.

Brian: But she makes it look like that. Because when I think of some of her work, it looks like even that sometimes when she's talking or talking rapidly, or having lots of thoughts, that it just looks so real...

Joe: Yeah!

Brian: It just looks like she's having them for real in front of us and she is of course, but I think her ability to do those two things is really...

Joe: Is really like, you know - and then I'm like, I'm thinking more of her recent work because she's not afraid to take a risk, that's one thing.

Brian: No, she's not! She's a risk taker.

Joe: She's done a lot of what people would say, "Why are you doing that, Meryl?" I think from an artistic point of view, she takes massive risks. This woman could walk into multimillion pound jobs in terms of like, and she probably does, but in terms of like really beyond the ordinary and Brian, you got me going man. They did the remake on The Manchurian Candidate, right? And she plays the president's mother, she plays Liev Schrieber's mom who is this absolutely driven woman who's the force behind him becoming over the candidacy, right. I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

Joe: I can't even remember the scene, I just remember that she kind of has this oedipal relationship - the son's in love with the mother in very more than motherly way. And she gives that to him and I was just like I can remember my skin crawling watching her do this and I'm like, "How did you do that? How did you do that? What did you strip yourself off that allowed you to play a role and you know that that's ugly. You know that's a serious taboo subject, right." And all the taboos, she just goes in there and goes right, oh it feels that way to me. She just goes in and goes right, "What's the most taboo thing here, right, I'm going to strip myself bare and I want to show you. I want to show you how ugly this thing can be."

And when she works again going back to the Devil Wears Prada. There's a scene where the character in it that she plays, they go to Paris and her marriage breaks up, right. Now, for all intents and purposes, Meryl Streep's marriage is pretty secure and that's another thing that I love about her. You don't know anything about her.

Brian: No.

Joe: You do not know... Page 8

Brian: You need to dig deep to...

Joe: You got to really find. There is none of that side of things. You know, the star stuff that so many people get wrapped up in and all that sort of gossip column stuff. You do not know anything about her. That's how brilliant she is. And then she conveys this woman, she just takes all the makeup off and she just lets herself, let us see this woman who's had a mask after mask in the Devil Wears Prada. See her broken not just upset, crushed and I'm like...

Brian: I remember that scene...it is, it's an amazing scene

Joe: You know and I'm like, we've got, we spent the whole film hating her basically, poor little Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway being put upon all the time. And then in one scene, one scene, she lets you in. And you're like, "Oh, my God. Oh, I feel sorry for this woman."

Brian: I think that scene, it always sticks out for me because I think there's a few actors I think that could have taken that type of character, and made you feel sorry for them. And you're right, it wasn't that she was upset, she was crushed.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: And she's able to kind of go to that depth and show you it so you kinda go, "Wow!" You know it's funny because like, we're talking about how does she manage to do that...

Joe: How does she do that.

Brian: Well, I've obviously followed her for quite a while and I saw an interview with her and she was talking about the fact that she thinks one of her strongest attributes to the way that she approaches her work is the fact that she's really curious about people.

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: She says, "I'm really curious about other people." She says it's almost an obsession, she says I'm really interested in other people. I think that is what enables her to create these distinct and different characters because she's not just looking at them and going, "Ah there a bit like this, bit like that". She is thinking about them day and night, she's really going into details about who they are and what they're like and you would think that maybe everybody does that but that's not always the case, I tell you. And she does it…

Joe: And she doesn't seem to do that with (grunts) feeling. She does it like it's the only thing that matters.

Brian: (Agrees in the background) Page 9

Joe: You know and that seems to convey back to me; craft and authenticity and generosity of spirit and that she's finding a voice for these people who essentially are just text on a paper, do you know what I mean. When you get a script guys out there, it's just black dots on white paper, generally you know. She seems to be able to bring such a sense of life to something, even if it's misery! You know what I mean. It's like she's so willing to wrap herself up in it. I think if you're a young actor, if you're learning and watching, you should watch the masters at work.

Brian: Oh, yeah.

Joe: You know, and she is the master. She is conveying everything to you, giving it to you for free, essentially, and revealing things that - I don't think of a lot of other women would want to reveal that part of themselves.

Brian: yeah, you've got to be brave enough to do that and I think she is. She is not afraid to go into areas that other people wouldn't do.

Joe: Yeah. Yeah.

Brian: And she's willing to be completely vulnerable and I know that kinds of get spanded around this industry but she really, really does embody that and she's not afraid to show you it. That just makes her a joy to watch and I think you've got a good point there Joe about the fact that you can go and watch all of Meryl's films and in fact, you could learn so much from just going and getting every film that Meryl Streep has ever done and watching them all.

Joe: Yeah!

Brian: Because you will see her work, the progression of her work and how she approaches things. You'll be beginning to see what she's doing...

Joe: Including Mamma Mia!

Brian: Yeah! (laughs)

Joe: Sorry, I just got to put that in there (laughs)

Brian: (laughing) You have to do that once as well.

Joe: Yeah, yeah you have to do that.

Brian: You have to see. That wasn't my favourite but I can see why she did it, you know. I can see why she wanted to do it because that was another challenge for her. She never sang on screen. She Page 10

thought, "This is different and something I've never done", and that's what she's about. She's a real actor, you know, she challenges herself and you know because comes from repertory, right.

Joe: Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian: So the old days of repertory acting and it's like, she's still looking for the challenge.

Joe: Yeah!

Brian: And looking for different roles that challenges her in different ways that's great.

Joe: Yeah, and we just - yeah. Hey, the secrets out, I love Meryl, what you know and then if you...

Brian: Who knew, Joe. Who knew…

Joe: Who knew, yeah yeah yeah. I know and the rivers run deep. But remember, you know, if you are starting out and you want to, you know...I think the reason why it's so important what we've spoken about Meryl is that she transcends genders, in terms of like, the approach to the work.

Brian: (agrees in the background)

Joe: She's played bad and good and mean and evil and witches and girls next door and mothers who run away and she's transcended, nuns, in Doubt - have a look at her in Doubt.

Brian: (laughs) Actually, that's a really good point because you know that she, Meryl Streep and I don't know why I never thought of this before because I think her work is, you get so involved in watching her. But Meryl Streep from a young woman was very beautiful and she still is, right but she can make herself look ugly...

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: I mean, there's not many actors that can make themselves, you know but she does it.

Joe: Yeah!

Brian: You watch some of her characters and there's like, "Oh duh, this person is repulsive!"

Joe: Yeah.

Brian: But she herself aesthetically is very beautiful so it's like that is quite a quality to be able to do that.

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Joe: Yeah, it's quite a quality, yeah! You know, to be able to do that. Absolutely. So yeah, the least you can do is watch some of her work. Take it onboard, see how her approach is which is methodical, method trained actor and ask yourself when you get a script, what would Meryl do?

Brian: What would Meryl do.

Joe: What would Meryl do, right. (laughs)

Brian: That is true, that's the next book. (laughs)

Joe: That's the next book, yeah (laughs)

Brian: Ok, yeah. I think that brings us to a close in this one. Speak to you on the next.

And cut! Okay, guys, that’s a wrap. Hey – don’t forget, if you want to get a transcript of today’s show and free access to Brian Timoney’s Online Method Acting Course, then go to worldofacting.com and get your free gifts now.

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