Meryl Loves Herself(ie)
Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 8:00AM Glenn here taking a little break from arguing about The Wolf of Wall Street and debating just who is best in show from American Hustle to talk about Meryl Streep's love of selfie photos. The most recent one of Meryl with her August: Osage County co-star Margo Martindale on the red carpet at the Palm Springs International Film Festival seemed to go viral this week, meaning more people have seen that than have been allowed to see the film they're plugging (August finally goes wide tomorrow).
Lest we forget, however, that Meryl loves a selfie... there's more of them after the jump
Here she is with potential future President Hillary Clinton:
And then there was that time she selfie'd with Whoopi Goldberg and Kelly Rippa.
Who will she take a selfie with next? Am I the only one who'd like a coffee table book full of Meryl's selfies? I can't imagine she and Abigail Breslin weren't taking photos any spare moment on set, can you?
Not to be outdone, that other Oscar beloved Tom Hanks had to go and take his famous shot right there on the Oscar's honourary Oscar stage. He's such a show off (but we love him in Captain Phillips so we'll let him off the hook this time).
It was the word of the year, after all.
Reader Comments (46)
I'd kill for a selfie with Meryl!
Yikes, Glenn. Maybe not the best time for this post. Now all the vitriolic haters will come to this site! ('course there are haters ALL OVER the internet in all shapes and sizes, with lots of venom to spew.)
My fav is the one with Hillary. Funny how they're BFFs now when once upon a time, Meryl was channeling Hillary in the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
Ahh, The Manchurian Candidate. That movie along with Lions for Lambs, Rendition, and others that reminded us she's just as ambitious and prone to flops/fails/embarrassments as anyone. It's too bad doing SNL impressions in bad movies has changed our minds about her.
Can we all admit that money and monetizing her "greatest living actress" status is WHY she is a box office tent pole, that her "greatness" has become a product that is an utterly capitalist invention to get ladies in seats? Meryl Streep's greatness is a commodity, now.
People bitched for years that Meryl stole all the good roles from Sarandon, Close, Weaver, etc. And that was only halfway valid. What is 100% valid is the fact that NO other actress can be promoted for her greatness while Streep continues as the capitalistic GOLD STANDARD. People watch her thinking they're watching the best there is. People who don't know better. People who don't have time or money or acumen to know better. Meryl Streep is like going to Olive Garden for "great" pasta. Why take a chance on Susan Sarandon when you have OLIVE GARDEN SOUP SALAD AND BREADSTICKS?
@Hayden W---That was way harsh Tai.
Geesh.. When did this site become such a Streep hater site?? Seems like she cannot satisfy anyone now?
Oh man so Meryl spoke something that was truthful and actually made sense within the context of the rest of her introduction of Emma and people are hating on her this much? So surprising.
Ideal Meryl selfie: her and Ana Wintour.
Hayden has a point--I think Michelle Pfeiffer has almost as strong a body of work, just without all the "look at me I'm ACTING" accents.
the reaction to meryl at the NBR ceremony has been so messy... are people serious when they say she might get in trouble for dissing disney? (I'm actually asking if she can get in trouble)
Just you thought the JLaw backlash was imminent, the internet decides to go and hate Meryl Streep!
love meryl. though finally got around to "iron lady" and it was even worse than i thought it would be. granny died of dementia, what meryl/thatcher had aint dementia. but it sure made her awful politics seem swell.
so strange that internet fandom & hate come in big waves like sheep or lemmings. dont get why youd hate on meryl unless you were just utterly vacuous. shes not perfect as an actress (see iron lady) but she brings so much joy in so many classic performances.
so stop it haters. be as independent and thoughtful as me. (refuse to soften with emoticon the last sentence.)
by the way love love love the selfie with margo who will always be the ticket for me for the short film she did with alexander payne. wonder if her french has improved.
xander - lol loved her in that too!
to even suggest that Michelle Pfeiffer's body of work is close to Meryl is a little ridiculous, to even suggest that her range is somewhat close to Meryl is even worse (and Im sure there are people in this site that suggests it since this site loves La Pfeiffer).
It's unfortunate that people are hating on her at the moment, instead of reveling on, what I think, is her strongest work since The Devil Wears Prada -- her Violet in August: Osage County. She is not hammy..People should realize that its a big role that requires BIG acting.. no way to be subtle in that role at all.. and she was magnificent in it!!
Our mothers...our selfies.
Umm... Jamie, you realise I wasn't criticising Meryl, right? If anything, this piece is celebrating her for not being an ol' stick in the mud and having fun on the circuit that could become dull for her year in year out.
Anjelica Huston is the actress that Meryl Streep gets credit for being. That Meryl ain't nothing nice!
Xander and Marcelo - Margo said recently in an interview that she LOVED making that film. I haven't seen it yet, but I have heard great things about all the segments. Is it available somewhere via streaming?
No Glenn... Not you... All the others
Kris Tapley wasn't incorrect when he said Streep went full retard. But he meant it as an insult while I see it as an accurate description of a celebrated actress going full Dunaway. It was hinted at in her Iron Lady performance but now I believe it's the golden standard for latter-day Streep. I enjoyed her the most. She can be so ineffective to me as a viewer throughout her maligned filmography where the most celebrated thing about it is her acting. This time the whole point was seeing the click, click, click, makes me wish Hepburn were alive simply to laugh at it. She might even come to embrace Streep over it. I think the whole world though owes Dunaway an apology for an acting style that was ahead of its time. Especially because it's fully acceptable now that Streep has adopted it as her own.
"Can we all admit that money and monetizing her "greatest living actress" status is WHY she is a box office tent pole, that her "greatness" has become a product that is an utterly capitalist invention to get ladies in seats?"
LMFAO.
"I think Michelle Pfeiffer has almost as strong a body of work"
LOL.
Haters gon' hate. Bring on Into the Woods!
pam - youtube has it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJG0lqukJTQ
don't know about other places.
It's all about equilibrium. People have started loving Leo in a big way and the hate had to go somewhere else. Physics 101, really.
I don't know, after seeing August: Osage County, I don't think Meryl deserves all of this negative reaction. She's not in my Top 5 or Top 10, but to me this felt like her first lived in performance since The Devil Wears Prada. I feel like this is more residual reaction to her other, lesser performances that got a lot of attention but as somebody who can run pretty cold on her, I thought she was one of the strengths of a film where there were more than a few performers that had not a clue on what to do (Hint: Julia got stuck with way too many scenes of these folks) and exposed a lot of the play's weaknesses because of their choices. That said, Streep is one for not to be ignored iconography and I was getting a little too much 'Sophie's Choice' with Violet's real hair being soon so much. Not he fault but somebody had to realize that.
I could never hate on Meryl Streep, but A:OS did nothing for me. And while she is the Greatest Actress of Her Generation™, Mirren still makes her look like a lazy bum in terms of output.
LOL, people bitching about Streep, when she's probably the only actress who became a movie star for being really good at what she does (and not for the sake of being famous, atractive or flavor of the moment).
Oh, Leo still has his haters. We may be quiet now, but if he gets an Oscar nom (yuck), we'll be out in full force. And if he wins (shudder), I expect our ranks to swell.
Suzanne- Did you even see the Wolf of Wall Street to judge Leo? Because as a hater, he genuinely surprised me.
@3rtful
Promised myself I would never respond to you again... has been a long time...
the use of the word retard by anyone is totally unacceptable to me ... even though you are say someone else said it .. you don't even ( probably) get out to know what life is about ... Streep can outact anyone on the screen today
I was shocked awhile back that you said you were 30 yrs, of age
I pictured you as a 60 yr.. old nerd!!!
Let's not go there, folks.
I second Glenn.
CMG, It's interesting that you liked him in it. I just don't know that I can take 3 hours of Leo. If it gets major Oscar noms (beyond Picture) I'll probably see it in the theater, though. I'm an awards completist.
@Glenn
"Go full retard" is a quote from Tropical Thunder. In context, it's not offensive, just very clever and masterful comedy, delivered by Robert Downey Jr.
Hayden - a really interesting, well articulated point of view. I happen to disagree with it (the comparison to Olive Garden is especially harsh) but still, well said,
Meryl Streep's body of work >> Michelle Pfieffer's though. A five year head start and she works a lot more often.
Play nice or comments close on this post this post is the celebration of Meryl fun on the circuit why is everyone so angry
All this supposed controversy only helps Streep, IMO.
She remains the greatest living actress.
Meryl Streep >>>> everyone else
That line in the context of Tropic Thunder is more of truth-telling about awards and it is clear Tapley will misuse it at will to sound clever when they just sound offensive, unconsciously, and really, it's especially stupid to place it on that character and performance. I notice way too many Oscar bloggers had absolutely no clue on August: Osage County the play. Sasha Stone originally just assumed because it was a Tracy Letts play that it was exactly like Killer Joe and Bug (she ended up liking it btw, still with no clue about the actual stage play).
3rtful -- what Gena/CMG said. "going the full retard" is an irreverent phrase that specifically connotes Oscar baiting performances (as per Tropic Thunder)
rick -- no insults to other commenters please. thats not how we do in this sandbox.
I just get tired of the same old tripe that gets regurgitated every awards cycle when Streep is in contention. Hayden W. comment above, while his opinion, is certainly an insult to Streep and borders on character assassination.
I love this site. I get excellent film perspective and news I don't see anywhere else. I return again and again. But recycled garbage from 30 years ago gets repeated again and again and again come awards season. It's not new, it's not interesting. It's insulting and it's sad.
My goodness...why is there so much vitriolic on this site? I mean we all can disagree but to bash actresses for reasons beyond objective/rational and worse, bash each other is just not conducive to rendering and appreciating constructive arguments. I love Streep just as much as I love other actresses (Pfeifer, Nicole, Adele, Chastain, Viola Davis, Glenn Close, Mary Tyler Moore, June Squib, Blanchett, and the list goes on) for each of their varied performances. I thought Streep was way better in AOC than Iron Lady. And here on this post, it's just about Streep having fun and not taking herself too seriously while attending all these award conferences and shows. Time to lighten up perhaps?
I am sorry ... not for what I said , but the word retard is still not acceptable to me ... maybe some of you on this "holy" blog do not have someone close to you that has mental disabillities ... I do.
I also teach and hear this word used often about normal kids ... so don't tell me to play nice to a jerk like 3/rtful... I am done listening to him and his irrational rants bout Streep .. hie is the only blogger here who uses language unnecessary to what is being discussed... and you allow him to stay in th sandbox... Ok .. but I am out !
rick -- i understand why you took offense (it is a purposefully offensive movie joke from a raunchy comedy) and i understand that 3rtful can be really irrational but we all have to do our best to do our part to keep the site civil. i don't really believe in banning people from my site but i have had to delete a comment here and there if people started attacking each other. i hope that doesn't happen here.
other than this time of year everyone seems to get a long on this site which is a huge happiness for me as i do not much like the comments section on most swaths of the internet. so id like to keep this one as civil as possible.
Jans -- chalk it up to this time of year when people get crazy... although i feel sad that Glenn's post, which is obviously meant to be fun because selfies are fun and mery is fun... is being taken in this really anti-Meryl way. sigh.
*lol*
Meryl has a different cell phone in all pictures.
Maybe she just loves to test her camera? ;)
I know she gets the sh*t these days for A:OC and her Disney diss at the NBR, but it actually doesn't minder my love and admiration for her.
I'd even love her if she has won 10 Razzies. Really, whatever.
Women who reach a position of power in any male dominated field are a treasure. Meryl streep showed that you don't have to a sexual object to be almighty in hollywood. I'd cut her some slack and focus on criticizing starlets who's path to fame is paved with boners.
Meryl is not my fav, but she has done so much for the younger generation. Can not imagine how much shit people have thrown about and against her during the 80s and 90s. And still getting the shit. But now she cares less I hope