Meryl Streep has a pretty established reputation in the world of pop culture—not just in terms of her considerable talents as a performer, but also a sort of whimsical classiness that she seems to effortlessly project. Streep will pivot between silly musicals and serious dramas, screwball comedies and complicated, messy people, all apparently at her own “If it’s interesting, do it” whims. But make no mistake, readers: Meryl Streep will fuck you, if she knows your movie isn’t going to happen without Meryl Goddamn Streep.
This is (via Variety) according to an anecdote Streep told on Today, amidst her ongoing promotional duties for The Devil Wears Prada 2. Specifically, the three-time Oscar winner was talking about the days when she was approached about the first Devil Wears Prada, which came out in 2006. When presented with the movie’s script, Streep instantly recognized two things about it: That it would make a lot of money for its producers, and that it was a movie you could only really make with Meryl Streep in its iconic semi-antagonistic role. “I was sure of it,” Streep said of the movie’s potential. “I was sure it would be a hit. And they needed me, I felt.” So Streep decided to turn the screws a bit: She turned the film down, then doubled her asking price. Meryl Streep: She’ll shiv ya if she can!
Streep frames this bit of revelatory hardball as a turning point for her, which is wild in so far as it was happening circa 2005, when she was more than 30 years into being “Meryl Streep, planet’s most well-regarded actress.” Noting that she was 56 at the time, Streep said of the negotiating move, “It took me this long to understand that I could do that!” She also made it clear that she did want the part of Anna Wintour stand-in Miranda Priestly, but maybe not as much as producers at 20th Century Fox wanted her: “And I wanted it, but if they didn’t want to do that, I was okay. Because I’m old—I’m 56, I was ready to retire.” (Streep is now 76, and has made more than 30 movies and TV shows since she starred in the previous Prada movie, so it’s hard to gauge how sincere that “Hey, I’ll just retire” stance is, but, hey: Whatever gets that paper, right?)
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