STACK #139 May 2016

DVD & BD FEATURE

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MERYL STREEP

You gotta start somewhere... "I don't think anyone ever taught Meryl acting. She really taught herself," observed Streep's drama teacher in 1969. Following four years training as an opera singer, Meryl ditched the high notes for theatre. Aspiring to become an actor the calibre of De Niro in Taxi Driver , she made her movie debut in Julia (1977). From the very beginning of her career, Meryl was being nominated for – and winning – awards. She received an Emmy for her work in mini-series Holocaust (1978), and the first of a multitude of Oscar nominations for her supporting role in The Deer Hunter (1978) – opposite De Niro!

1978

OSCAR NOMINATION PHASE Less a phase than a Meryl trademark: there simply isn't the space here to list her 19 Academy Award nominations to date – the most received by any actor. So we'll focus on her three wins: Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice (1983) and The Iron Lady (2012). "I've been nominated for an Oscar 15 times and won twice," she said in 2009, "but it still feels like it's happening to someone else. I wish I could feel it more." She also holds the record for Golden Globe noms – currently 29.

1979

1983

DVD & BD

1985

1988

1992

coMEDY PHASE "I love doing comedy, but people just don't give me enough of a chance," says Meryl. More should: The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and the underrated Death Becomes Her (1992) showcase her talents as a natural comedienne.

2006

2009

BIOPIC PHASE From doomed nuclear plant worker Karen Silkwood ( Silkwood , 1983) and TV chef Julia Child ( Julie & Julia , 2009), to Karen Blixen ( Out of Africa , 1985) and our own Lindy Chamberlain ( Evil Angels , 1988), playing real women is another forte of Meryl's. "I consider all the roles I play a privilege but [Margaret Thatcher] was special because there are such vehement opinions about her," she says of her Oscar-winning portrayal of the infamous British PM in The Iron Lady (2011). "It took a lot out of me, but it was a privilege to play her, it really was."

2011

ACCENT PHASE From Polish in Sophie's Choice (1982) and Danish in Out of Africa (1985), to British in The Iron Lady (2011), Meryl is synonymous with a flair for phonetics. Although she did fumble an Aussie accent in Evil Angels (1988), sounding more like Kath and Kim than Lindy Chamberlain when she announced that "a dingo took my baybee" in anguished strine. "I had to study a little bit for Australian because it's not dissimilar [to American], so it's like coming from Italian to Spanish. You get a little mixed up," she stated in a 2006 interview with The Guardian .

MAY 2016

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