Meryl Streep
As the multi award-winning actress stars in a glitzy, feel-good movie this Christmas, we’ve never needed Meryl’s mix of magic and sparkle more. . .
‘The film is a lot of fun – and we all need that’
Who doesn’t love a feel-good Christmas film? And that’s just what Meryl Streep and co are set to deliver in the razzle-dazzle, star-studded, glitterball of a musical movie, The Prom.
The story follows the journey of fictional diva actress Dee Dee Allen, played by Meryl Streep, and her sidekick Barry Glickman (James Corden) as disgraced New York City stars who lose their jobs when their expensive Broadway show flops.
In a calculated attempt to resurrect their public image, and save their reputation, the pair – along with out-ofwork actress Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman) – hit the road to take on the cause of a teenage girl in Indiana who has been banned from attending her High School prom with her girlfriend.
What starts out as a selfish act, ultimately ends in them achieving something heart-warming and uplifting
– in addition to providing some much-needed fun. “A lot of fun,”said Meryl recently. “And we all need that. This story is based on a real thing that happened to some kids in Indiana. It has a happy ending – everything we dream of in
2020. Life does feel dark right now but we need to celebrate what’s good in the world, what’s humane, what’s compassionate, what’s right.
“The joy of living is singing and dancing and being in love. I’m hoping we’ll get back on track.”
At various times throughout Meryl’s stellar career, she’s played the diva and prima donna. Think glacial, glossy magazine editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada or deluded opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins in the
film of the same name. Now she’s adding Dee Dee to that list and clearly relishes this kind of role.
“I try very hard to bring that part of me forward!” she has said with her tongue firmly in her cheek. “I feel very proud to have been able to work in films where the women I’m portraying are very central to the story.
“We need to make more films that present women’s lives and tell more women’s stories. Acting has always been a great form of therapy for me because the more I try to understand the women
I’m playing, the more I understand something about myself. The good thing about getting older is that when they actually do cast you it’s often something interesting. You have to embrace getting older.” We wonder what were Meryl’s own experiences as a teen enjoying a prom, an American tradition. “I went to the senior prom when I was aged 14 or 15,” she has said.
“I was very excited. My mother made all my prom dresses, and I thought I looked great. That’s what it’s all about – how you look or looked, at least at the beginning of the evening. I was not prom queen. I don’t think they had that. It was the late Sixties and it was getting like, everybody was a little too cool to be at prom.”
Meryl (71) has been married to her sculptor husband Don Gummer for 42 years and they have four grown-up children – Henry (41), Mamie (37), Grace (34) and Louisa (29).
Meryl has always made a point of keeping her work and home life separate, but it wasn’t always an easy balancing act when the children were young. Although she has said that the job did help her spend more time with them when they were growing up.
“Going from job to job, never knowing where the next one would be, allowed me to spend time with my four kids – more than if I’d worked at a desk job,” she has said. “Decisions I made in my career were not always based on aesthetic criteria: rather was it near, was it going to be shot in the vacation? You make all sorts of compromises in order to have this other thing that you value.” But Meryl has never compromised on putting her family first. “My family really does come first. It always did and always will.”
We couldn’t agree more – especially at Christmas time. ■ The Prom is streaming on Netflix from December 11. For more details about signing
up to Netflix, visit netflix.com
‘We need to make more films that present women’s lives’