Meryl Streep says losing sucks

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Meryl Streep is a national treasure. She’s humble, she’s honest, she’s cool and she’s funny. With her Best Actress Oscar nomination for Doubt, Streep has become the most-nominated actor in history, her fifteen nominations beating out Katherine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson’s twelve nominations each. And all of those Oscar nominations don’t even take into account her myriad nominations and wins at the Golden Globes, SAGs, Emmys and critics’ awards.

The downside to being nominated so often means that Streep loses a lot. Streep sat down with ABC’s “Nightline” to talk honestly about how it feels to not only be the most nominated actor, but the biggest loser. To sum up, Streep says it sucks.

Nearly every actor who loses on Oscar night smiles it off by saying it’s an honor just to be nominated. But Meryl Streep, who has been nominated a record 15 times but won only twice, knows more about losing than most and has revealed just how bad it really feels.

“When you lose you think ‘my work wasn’t any good’,” Streep told the ABC news program “Nightline” in an interview airing on Monday night.

“But it’s an honor to be nominated, and it is! It is,” Streep said. “But you just feel worse when you lose than you did before you got nominated.”

Feel worse? Now that’s a dose of honesty.

With a best actress Oscar nomination for her role as a vindictive nun in “Doubt,” Streep brings her total Academy Award nomination count to 15 — that’s more than any other actor, with Jack Nicholson and the late Katharine Hepburn tied at 12 Oscar nods each.

The last time Streep, 59, won an Oscar was in 1983 for the Holocaust film “Sophie’s Choice.” Her other win was in 1980 for the divorce drama “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Since then, she’s been smiling bravely from her seat on Oscar night as other actresses step up to the podium.

Streep, a noted perfectionist and master of accents, is often called the greatest living actress. But when “Nightline” interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Streep about that, the actress called such talk “meaningless.”

From Reuters

Some of my favorite Meryl Streep roles are the ones that she wasn’t even nominated for – I’m a huge fan of Postcards from the Edge and Heartburn, both of which she was playing characters loosely based on real people. In Postcards, the character was loosely based on Carrie Fisher; in Heartburn, one the few films she did with her friend Jack Nicholson, she was playing a character loosely based on Nora Ephron to Nicholson’s Carl Bernstein.

I saw Doubt a few weeks ago and I was, per usual, blown away with Streep. I’m also a huge Phillip Seymour Hoffman fan, but even I have to admit that Streep wiped the floor with him. In one highly charged scene, you can even see Streep’s eyes turn red with emotion. Even though I’m pretty sure that Kate Winslet’s got a lock on the Oscar this year, part of me hopes that Meryl finally gets another victory after all of these years.

Meryl Streep, screenwriter John Patrick Shanley and Amy Adams are shown at a photocall for Doubt in Paris on 1/19/09. Credit: WENN

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20 Responses to “Meryl Streep says losing sucks”

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  1. Chiara says:

    I too, love her candor. I saw Doubt yesterday and Meryl was masterful. The Bronx accent, the unyielding behavior, characteristic of a nun of that period held me with rapt interest.

  2. Curly Fry says:

    Meryl is great, poised actress and her straightforwardness is refreshing.

    However, I really wish people would quit wearing the American flag as clothing. It’s just straight up tacky.

  3. Baholicious says:

    Actually, I quite like the dress…which is surprising because I agree that flags as clothing normally just scream ‘redneck’ or ‘biker’ (or both) at me. It looks very comfortable, breezy and it fits her beautifully. Maybe it’s because the colours are so soft but I don’t find it garish at all.

    Sartorial choice aside, here ladies and gentlemen, is an Actress!

  4. Dorothy says:

    How funny I didn’t even realize it was a flag!

    I could not love Meryl more ,and PSH is from my town so I am fan of his. He is a little odd and I don’t really get it considering where he grew up but… I Have yet to see Doubt but I am sure it is Oscar material.

    I LOVE Heartburn I love the Carly Simon soundtrack! I think it is my most favorite of her movies. And so many people have never seen it.

  5. Tanya Degano says:

    She WAS nominated for Postcards from the Edge (Best Actress in a Leading Role)

  6. geronimo says:

    1983? 25 yrs since this woman’s won an Oscar?? That’s just wrong! She is extraordinary. Haven’t seen Doubt but if she’s this good in it, maybe it will be her turn this year? As deserving as Kate W is, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind losing to Meryl.

  7. CandyKay says:

    I also like the way Meryl is aging. She’s beautiful AND 60…and not desperately trying to look like she’s 20.

    She’s filled out a little bit, too, and that’s fine, that’s how most women age.

    She seems happy with the person she is, and that’s attractive at any age.

  8. sissoucat says:

    Great actress, and a real woman too.

    She looks really motherly in that dress, in a good way, I just want to hug her… a child would love to have such a granny.

    Just the opposite of Madonna.

  9. Baholicious says:

    Just the opposite indeed. If Madonna’s a piece of gristle, Meryl is a porterhouse and I mean that as an utter compliment!

  10. Rosanna says:

    Ah the living proof that when you really have talent you don’t need to be beautiful, not even in Hollywood 😉

  11. czarina says:

    Agree completely, Meryl Streep is a magnificent example of class, dignity and aging with grace.
    I hope she recieves a Lifetime Achievement Award next year (or, at least, soon). I would actually watch the Oscars for that–to see a tribute to all her work.
    I, too, loved Postcards From the Edge (based on the loosely auto-biographical book by Carrie Fischer), and let’s not forget Out of Africa…she has given so many amazing performances.

  12. Christina says:

    damn, this woman is cool…

  13. Di says:

    She’s still so beautiful. Why does she wear such strange clothes? Get a stylist Meryl, your beauty deserves it!!

  14. Meryl is just telling the truth… Anyway, being nominated is an honor to others who hasn’t been nominated yet… LOL

  15. Trillion says:

    What a sec, Rosanna, do you mean to say Meryl Streep is not beautiful? I think she’s absolutely gorgeous. I’d rather look at her face than any supermodel’s, frankly. Don’t really think those are the “right” shoes for her dress, however.

  16. MT says:

    Hathaway is not good enough, Winslet has peaked years ago and is doing the same thing ever since, so I have no problem in giving it to Streep again.

    Except, the best performance this year was of Kristin Scott Thomas for a great French movie that is completely under the radar.

    I hate it that the Oscars have become so much about a campaign and playing a certain game (i.e. Anne and Kate, Reese in the year she won…).

    There used to be a time when it was about great performances and great movies.

  17. Granger says:

    It’s all politics, really, isn’t it?

    Meryl Streep is gorgeous, if you ask me. Just go back and watch “Sophie’s Choice.”

  18. Trillion says:

    My trust in The Oscar as a barometer of great acting died when Julia Roberts won for her awkward performance in the awfully scripted “Erin Brokovich”. And to make matters worse, she won over Ellen Burstyn who was earth shattering in “Requiem for a Dream”. Ever since that night, I’ve really only relied on the Oscars for the frock watching. And even that’s just gotten so safe.

  19. raven says:

    Well, she won and her acceptance speech was utterly charming. You can also tell how well she is liked as a person by her peers.

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