Stephen Colbert asks Meryl Streep: why aren’t you partying with Kanye?

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Meryl Streep
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Meryl Streep

I hope a lot of people stayed up last night to watch The Colbert Report, because it was totally worth it. Meryl Streep was Colbert’s guest, and he pretty much dropped his Faux’Reilly persona to totally geek out on her. In his defense, she geeked out a little on him too. Most of the interview she just sort of giggled girlishly – which, when done by Meryl, is quite charming. Meryl looked gorgeous too – she’s lightened her hair to a really pretty, warm caramel-blonde and she dressed up in what looked like a silk blouse and heels. She must really like Stephen Colbert, because Meryl doesn’t get dressed up for much anymore.

At the beginning of the interview, he jokes that he’s really “Meryl Streep playing Stephen Colbert for the whole show… I’m that good.” Colbert asks her if when she got the role of Julia Child, she thought, “Man, I get to bulk up!” Meryl says, “I kind of did, inadvertently… I looked at it like a pregnancy, you know, ‘Whatever!’ I could just eat whatever you want.” Colbert laughs and says, “Actually, saying ‘Whatever!’ is a great way to start a pregnancy.” They both tell funny stories about food and their childhoods, but one of my favorite moments is when Colbert asks Meryl, “Are you afraid that portraying Julia Child is going to make cooking seem cool? Are teenagers going to start having braising parties?” I also love when he scolds her for not being on more red carpets, asking why she isn’t partying with Kanye West.

Meryl also sat down with Salon for a nice little interview. Here are some of the highlights:

You’ve played plenty of real-life characters through the years, but rarely such a familiar person as Julia Child. Did that worry you? Did you worry about playing it too broadly — like Dan Aykroyd’s caricature on “SNL”?
Well, probably it should have. But I had just finished “Doubt” and didn’t have any time to think about it. And before “Doubt”… I didn’t have time to think about that. I think generally I’m better when I’m thrown out on the stage with a [mimes a confused look] “What, what, what do I do?” [Laughs] I really do. I think the more time you have to worry about something — actors that prepare for a year to work on something — I know I couldn’t do it, because I’d over-think. I would definitely over-think.

I just had the same outlines in my mind that everybody had. You know, the voice, the posture and things like that. But really, what I attached to in my imagination was her spirit. She was so similar in spirit and approach to life to my mother that I got to do a little tiny homage to Mary Streep while I was doing this. Which meant a lot to me and sort of located me centrally in a body I loved.

That’s interesting to know, because your performances are closely scrutinized for their potential influences. In “Manchurian Candidate” [2004] you said you’d watched women like Karen Hughes and Peggy Noonan, but a lot of people were convinced you were playing Hillary Clinton, and — I thought it was fascinating that people thought it was her. Because, honestly, I’d never thought about her for one second while I was doing it. But there was so much anti-Hillary vitriol in the press at that time that anybody with a bubble haircut — you know? Even though [my character Eleanor Shaw] was a brunette and from the South and looked like me! I think the women that are sort of driving, aggressive ambitious presences in films are still terrifying — and in life, I guess. It’s still something society is chafing to accommodate.

You had a famous quip in the 1990s about how difficult it was for older women to get good roles — that Hollywood producers don’t want to cast women who remind them of their first wives. Recently, you’ve said that you don’t think anything has changed dramatically. And yet you’re wildly in demand …
I don’t think they have changed dramatically, otherwise all the actors my age would be working as much as I am. And I think I have surfed a wave of very good fortune. I guess, starting with [“The Devil Wears Prada”] it has to do with the money coming back in big blockbusters. But if there were more female-driven, interesting projects that were widely distributed … That audience is there, they want to go.

You said recently that you’re still “shocked” when you get a role. Is that really true? Come on, you’re Meryl Streep!
Yeah. I don’t know, I think [pauses to consider] I’m a valuable commodity to a project. But I’m always shocked that there’s an interesting, full-fledged, ambitiously wrought role for somebody like me, that somebody’s willing to put in a movie, it’s unusual, that’s what I mean by shocked. I’m not shocked because … “Gosh, me? How do I know how to act?” [Laughs] But there’s so many unbelievably talented, richly talented women and men that are older, that just don’t get a chance.

[From Salon]

Does Meryl understand that she still gets roles because she’s the greatest living actress working today? That she’s every director’s first choice in casting a female character over the age of 50? Sigh. I love her. If I could have even 2% of Meryl’s coolness right now, at my age, I would be a happy camper.

Here’s Meryl Streep at the ‘Julie & Julia’ premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on July 30th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

27 Responses to “Stephen Colbert asks Meryl Streep: why aren’t you partying with Kanye?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. JayBird says:

    This was such a great interview; I think I have a crush on both of them now.

  2. Kaiser says:

    Jaybird – Aren’t they cute together? I was surprised by how girlish and cute Meryl was with him.

  3. Diane says:

    Ewww, and damn = )

    I missed the interview, so thanks for putting it up, good read.

    Nothing contrived with Meryl, what you see is what you get = )

  4. Alison says:

    That was really good. I love how Meryl doesn’t seem to take her career too seriously. I guess that’s why she seems so normal.

  5. ash says:

    so humble, love her. This interview is too cute.

  6. Marianne says:

    Fuck, Colbert, what have you done to your hair? I’m not digging this shaved look, but whatever, I’d still do him. lol
    About Meryl being the “greatest actress living”, well, yawn. I like her, but there are many other actresses over 50 that could easily have this title. The mainstream press is just too lazy to watch their movies. And considering how much Meryl works and how easy to find her movies are, people all jump to this “greatest actress” bullshit.

  7. divax says:

    Marianne: He had his head shaved when he joined the forces in Iraq on his show

  8. Marianne says:

    Yeah, Divax, he really broke my heart. I liked his hair the way it used to be. lol

  9. Debby says:

    Marianne, ‘many’ – do tell!!?! Who else could have this title? And why do you think the mainstream press is lazy? What, in your expert opinion, should we be watching?

    I love Susan Sarandon, but do you think she could have been Julia Child? Glenn Close – what type of job would she have done with Devil wears Prada, or Doubt? And, who over 50 could have expressed the joy in Mamma Mia?

    You gave me a big yawn. Get over yourself. There are many much more qualified critics out there who can write with substance. I don’t understand how you could make a general statement like that without backing it up.

    Meryl Streep seems to be one of the more supportive actresses out there. All you have to do to believe that is watch any of her acceptance speeches. She is always acknowledging her fellow actresses in a sincere and very supportive fashion.

  10. Ron says:

    I adore her. She is humble and quite simply the best actress alive. It’s hard for me to believe that Katherine Hepburn won 4 Oscars and Meryl only has 2.

  11. KateKap says:

    A great actress in a very stupid movie.

  12. Marianne says:

    Debbie, YOU should get over yourself. There is no need to be so aggressive. People have different opinions. If you think Meryl is the best, great for you. But you should teach yourself some tolerance and be respectful when people don’t agree with you. These “the greatest _______” labels are boring. The best for me may not be the best for you. And you can’t measure preference with dumb statues.
    I really like Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Kathy Bates, Jill Clayburgh, Eileen Atkins, Anne Bancroft was great too, etc.
    Isabelle, for instance, is a really brave actress. She had some of the most difficult roles I’ve ever seen. But the movies were little productions (or just too artsy for the mainstream) and not many people had the chance to see them. The same happened to Charlotte Rampling, Liv Ullmann or Jeanne Moreau. They are more daring and courageous actresses than Meryl, in my opinion. I wonder what Meryl would’ve done in The Piano Teacher, Swimming Pool or Autumn Sonata, for instance.

  13. Debby says:

    Bravo, Marianne, that is what you should have written to begin with, imo. Back up such a statement. Well done, and your point now considered.

  14. the original kate says:

    oh my god – charlotte rampling! man i love her…her work in “swimming pool” is absolutely amazazing. i agree – helen mirren, isabella r., judi densch, all much better actress than meryl, IMO. i like meryl as a person but she seems to be the easy pick when people talk about great actresses. but each to his own – acting is very subjective.

  15. Debby says:

    I would suggest that Meryl Street is the greatest American actress. There are so many others that are good, but I just don’t think anyone else has the range she does.
    However, those English actresses are something else. All those mentioned, plus Kate Winslet – what a future she has.
    There was a story circulating last week from London. Judi Dench stepped in front of a cab and barely avoided being hit. The angry driver leaned out of the cab and yelled at her – ‘watch where you step, you dumb, dim c–t!. Without missing a beat, she yelled back ‘Thats Dame dumb, dim c–t, to you, sir’.

  16. Tommy says:

    I challenge anyone to point out a greater performance than Meryl’s in “Sophie’s Choice”.

  17. Mizz Expert says:

    Wait a minute…Mamma Mia was the most horrible thing I couldn’t sit through, right along with Benjamin Button. I think Mamma Mia is tolerable only if you’re 16 or younger or tone deaf. It hurt my mind and ears.

  18. the original kate says:

    i agree – meryl is great in sophie’s choice, but i feel like that is her best role. i don’t think she has ever reached that intensity again. as far as other great american actresses julianne moore, susan sarandon, jodie foster & sigourney weaver come to mind. meryl is totally cute with colbert, though.

  19. Marianne says:

    Wow, Debby, your first post was really something. I thought you wanted to cyber murder me. 🙂
    I think Meryl is very good in the physical aspects of acting. She gets the accents, the movements and the whole look of her characters. But as Hepburn said, you can hear her engines working. There’s something extremely cerebral about her performances. I don’t get the emotion. To me, Meryl acting is style over substance. Sophie’s Choice is a rare exception.
    It’s easy to call Meryl the greatest actress living. She’s popular. She’s out there. Her movies are easy to find and she’s always promoting something. The average Joe doesn’t know anyone else, so, he goes with the most popular choices. Meryl is a common place.
    As I said before, I love Isabelle Huppert. Her range is amazing. She’s not afraid of portraying the darkest aspects of human nature. But at the same time, she can be extremely funny. She can do anything.
    Jeanne Moreau can put Meryl in her pocket too. She’s 81 and she’s still working. She had the chance to make amazing movies with Buñuel, Antonioni, Truffaut, Wenders, Welles, among others. She recently did a movie with François Ozon and she was great in it. Ozon, by the way, loves older actresses. In 8 Femmes, he reunited some of the most famous french divas and he got striking performances from Charlotte Rampling in Swimming Pool and Under The Sand.
    Liv Ullmann, hell, I don’t know how to express her intelligence and courage. She captures the essence of her characters and she’s not afraid of being caught up in deeply complex realities. She adds a raw emotion to everything she does. Her performances in Scenes From a Marriage, Persona and Face to Face, can easily top Sophie’s Choice (I think so, Tommy. 😉 ). And, to boot, she can write and direct great movies.
    So, I think that, people are not looking in the right places when they say that there are no good parts for women over 50. The problem with actresses who complain about aging is that, they want to be seen forever as beauty queens and get the same huge paychecks they had 20 years ago, instead of looking for meaningful jobs.
    Ooops, huge post. Anyone with enough patience to read it? 🙂

  20. Vermithrax says:

    I’ve had a crush on Meryl for years.

    *sigh

    Great interview for both 🙂

  21. Harmony says:

    this was adorable. I LOVE meryl streep! 🙂 she is such a breath of fresh air and a fascinating actress. steven colbert did a cute job on his end too.

  22. Tommy says:

    Hey Marianne. Are ya like me, do ya like movies:)
    Great post! No quarrels with your selections.
    Speaking of Huppert, I re-visited “Heaven’s Gate” the other night
    (4 hr version). The young Isabelle was luminous in it, and I came away with the same opinion of the film as I did when I saw it in the theatre in ’81 or so. I think it is a flawed masterpiece.
    Too long–yes,somewhat disjointed–yes.
    But an unmitigated disaster? Hardly.
    Great cast, solid acting, beautiful cinematography. I guess I agree with the European critics on this one.

  23. boomchakaboom says:

    Love me some Meryl Streep. Colbert too. That was a great interview. I can’t wait to see this movie. No matter what is said or written about it, it has Meryl as Julia Child and who doesn’t love Julia Child?

  24. Wench. says:

    Argh, she’s divine.

    And hurrah for the Ozon mention. Rampling in ‘Swimming Pool’ was fabulous. I adore his movies, generally. I remember just catching ‘5×2’ on TV. Damn glad I did – the start of a beautiful friendship!

  25. MJ says:

    I actually think Glenn Close would have done a great job in Devil Wears Prada. I still think Meryl is the greatest living actress, and I say this knowing full well the number of other older actresses who are talented and deserving of praise. None of them are quite as good as Meryl in my opinion. But the Glenn Close not doing well in Devil Wears Prada comment, I can actually see her doing that part great justice. I’m just glad it went to Meryl though …

  26. Mme X says:

    how can anyone not adore her? she’s the real thing.

  27. Mary Jane says:

    What an AMAZING SHOW and I am not a fan of Mr. Colbert’s… Meryl is a goddess! I totally forgive her for that “Mamma Mia” crap!

    Over 50… DAME Helen Mirren, Glenn Close, Sally Field… who else?