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Home , Florence Foster Jenkins, Meryl Streep

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hopeful that, you know, the next phase has lent her name and given her money to a would turn out all right.” wealth of causes, from Mothers and Others (a The inspirational message of Florence Foster consumer advocacy group she co-founded in Jenkins is driven home halfway through, after 1989) and the human rights organisation Equal- Florence has been lowered onstage wearing a ity Now to recently funding a screenwriting lab flowing white gown and angel wings, declared for female writers over 40 and part-financing “music is my life” and strangled the the yet-to-open National Women’s History likes of Bell Song from Lakme and the Queen of Museum in Washington. the Night aria from . “The lady is “I gave them my [$US1m] salary for Iron a lesson in courage,” announces one character, Lady. But it’s an ongoing struggle because it’s a “and that’s why we love her.” public thing so it has to go through congress, It’s a sentiment that may well be applied to and the obstructionist strategy of the opposition Streep, who is as brave as she is gifted and com- party means there’s peristalsis, stalling. But mitted. She has said she inherited her gung-ho that’s OK because the march of progress is spirit from her mother, Mary, a commercial art- The real Florence going on. People are becoming more and more ist who instilled confidence in her daughter Foster Jenkins, far aware of these issues.” from an early age. Her father, Harry, who head- left; Streep with As they are about global warming: “Australia ed up a personnel department at Merck & Co, in is suffering more than most,” she says. “It was the pharmaceutical giant, bestowed his smarts , the canary in the mine on fluorocarbons and (“He was very academic and very bright,” she above; as Lindy once the hole on the ozone layer was discovered told in 2006). Chamberlain in we stopped using them and it actually got fixed. Having jettisoned opera lessons for cheer- Evil Angels, left How you can deny this stuff is beyond me. Why leading and rock music, Streep went to Vassar, not put measures in place, even if you don’t then to study drama, proving believe the signs?” herself an excellent mimic and speedy learner Streep lives a relatively modest life in New of lines. After graduating, she worked in the (Sophie’s Choice). , the aristocratic directed her in , Heartburn and Post- York with her sculptor husband , theatre — Shakespeare, mainly, then Tennes- Danish writer living in Kenya (): “I cards From the Edge, and in the 2004 HBO shopping mindfully, driving an ecologically see Williams, and - had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong miniseries — was probably sound car, occasionally riding the subway. “She on Broadway. She also auditioned Hills,” she intones, her accent perfect, in a film her favourite. In November 2014, Nichols and doesn’t closet herself away,” her daughter for films. that scooped seven Oscars. Streep were due to start filming (a , 33, an actress, has said. “She One of her first screen tests was for the lead And of course, Lindy Chamberlain, the New movie of the Terence McNally play about the ensures her place in the theatre of the world.” actress role in ’s King Kong. Zealand-born Australian wrongly convicted in classes given by diva at New Mamie was her co-star in . Unimpressed, the director admonished his son 1982 of murdering her baby daughter, despite York’s Juilliard School in 1971) when Nichols Her other daughters, Grace, 30, and Louisa, 24, (who’d brought her) in Italian. “This is so ugly,” claiming a dingo had taken her (Evil Angels). If died unexpectedly, aged 83. are an actress and a model; her 37-year-old son he said. “Why did you bring me this?” Streep Streep tends to play female characters she feels “Master Class is such a great piece,” she says. is respected musician and singer-songwriter understood Italian and came back with: “I’m Henry Wolfe. What with her own work and her very sorry I am not as beautiful as I should be husband’s creations — Gummer’s freestanding but this is what you get.” The role went to Jess- FLORENCE WAS ALWAYS HOPEFUL THAT THE aluminium and stainless steel sculptures were ica Lange, but it’s a salutary tale. Nobody puts exhibited outside New York subway stations Mary Louise “Meryl” Streep in a corner. NEXT PHASE WOULD TURN OUT ALL RIGHT last May — Streep is surrounded, most of the Robert De Niro saw her doing Chekhov and time, by creativity, music and art. got her a part playing his girlfriend in 1978’s The “My husband’s art is very musical, the way it Deer Hunter, which brought her first Oscar speaks to you,” she says, then catches herself nomination. But it was the acclaimed TV mini- and stops. “I’m actually not allowed to talk series , and her role as the German about it. But to me it has rhythm. The composi- wife of a Jewish artist in , that a need to defend, then Chamberlain — whose “We’d pushed back Florence to accommodate tions are really structured and fluid.” brought widespread recognition. From then on trial by media made her a household name this because we were trying for 20 years to get We talk instead about the healing power of — with the exception of late -early 90s around the world — was ripe for defending. the rights and then we finally got them. And music, including the way Jenkins wanted to give comedy duds and She-Devil “Yes, I felt that,” Streep nods. “So did (direc- Mike died.” She looks at the floor. “He died on some wartime respite: “Yes, the — Streep has demonstrated, over and over, how tor) Fred Schepisi. Now there’s a person whose the Thursday and we were going to have our transport. That’s why art exists, to lift us out. damn good she is. yin and yang are beautifully integrated, first production meeting on the Friday.” There is of evidence for how horrible life Her first Academy Award came in 1979, for although from the outside he’s a real bloke. Her voice shaking, she pauses, swallowing, is, and how despairing we should be; we should Kramer vs Kramer. Her role as the unhappily He’d stay up all night with Ian Baker the cine- getting a handle on her emotions. “So my heart be completely opening our wrists. But then married Joanna was a tour de force, all the more matographer and they’d be like, ‘Yeah, mate, we was broken and I didn’t want to do it after that. I there’s Yo-Yo Ma and there’s Renee Fleming.” remarkable because she wrote two of her own were up til 5am …’ ” She sways about, talking think I’m too old now anyway; Callas was so And, arguably, there is the wonder that was Jen- scenes, was fighting with off Strine, waving an imaginary stubbie. young (48) when she gave those classes. Ter- kins, whose mission to spread happiness was camera and grieving the death of her boyfriend, “But hidden inside Fred is this very sensitive, ence was there. And do you know who else was matched by her low threshold for embarrass- . Then came The French thoughtful, feeling female perception of the there?” It feels like she’s giving me a gift. Who? I ment. So what gets Streep — this great, cour- Lieutenant’s Woman and that end-of-pier scene world. He’s understood visually so much of how say. Who? “! He was a student at ageous, committed actress — blushing? Has she in which, wearing a hooded cape, Streep slowly I understood perceptions of Lindy. The way the Juilliard and he sneaked in the back. So did ever come out of a public loo, say, with her skirt turns her face and floors with a shape of her eyebrows made her face seem !” tucked into the back of her underpants? look. Later she’d say she felt a misfit in the role, inexpressive, because they went like this.” She I wonder how matey she is with her old co- “My what? Ha ha! Nah. Age is a great leveller not being beautiful enough. But watch the scene points two fingers down her face in a V-shape. stars (Kline was in Sophie’s Choice and Ricki and for all those anxieties. You don’t really give a again on YouTube and Streep’s metamorphosis “The way her case marked the first time the the Flash; Baranski in Mamma Mia); last year she shit and you know what?” is apparent: to the viewer she’s as stunning as news was scored with music. Scary music. Eee- told Time Out that one of her biggest regrets was What? I say. Botticelli’s Venus. eee-eee.” A sigh. “It’s all about pushing you in “that my friendships suffered from lack of atten- She twinkles again. “It’s a really nice feeling.” Heavy-hitting roles followed: a Polish an emotional direction.” tion, in favour of the time taken up by my fam- mother inside Auschwitz who has to choose But of all Streep’s directors, the German- ily, my career and civic concerns”. opens nationally on which of her two children is to be gassed born American auteur — who Civic concerns first: Streep is a woman who Thursday.

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