Greatest Actors, Greatest Inspirations

We all know Meryl Streep is the greatest actress of all times. But sometimes it is not clear why. Since she's my ultimate role model, I feel the necessity to number those reasons, synthetizing as much as I can:

1- Her constant mutation from role to role.
She is always re-inventing herself, unlike many actors she has never played one role twice. Just watch Sophie's Choice and Silkwood and start wondering how did she mutate so fastly from one role to another when they are so extremely different. Then watch The Bridges Of Madison County and Marvin's Room. In both movies she plays a mother BUT it's amazing how different they are, and there's only one year difference between the releases of the two films. Watch The Hours and The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia!. Or just watch Angels in America where she plays four roles. Then tell me she doesn't mutate.

2- She's multitalented.
She can do everything. Even at her age, we find her singing and dancing in many movies. And she does it greatly. We can even find her jumping on beds! Just watch Mamma Mia!, A Praire Home Companion and Postcards From The Edge. The best part is, she even sings differently according to the character she's playing!

3- You forget you're watching Meryl Streep.
Unlike most actors, Meryl completely submerges in the character. When you watch Kramer vs. Kramer, you're watching Joanna Kramer, not Meryl Streep. When you watch The Devil Wears Prada, you're watching Miranda Priestly, not Meryl Streep. When you watch Adaptation, you're watching Susan Orlean, not Meryl Streep. When you watch Ironweed, you're watching Helen Archer, not Meryl Streep. You're not watching an actor randomly doing stuff, pretending to be somebody, you actually see the character and you forget even Meryl's name.

4- She can manage to do absolutely any accent.
That's been alredy clarified. She can do Polish, she can do Dannish, she can do English, she can do Southern, anything, you name it. She can even do Bronx! Just watch her on The Ellen Degeneres Show ;)

5- She's so commited to her work.
She would always do anything in her power to become attached to the character and to learn how to portray it. She would do all the research needed and she would even learn Polish, even if it would not be useful for her because she'd later forget it. And most importantly, she's very responsible and always tries to grow the best atmosphere possible on set, with the rest of the cast and crew. (I know this only for references, but it's true!)

6- She's very natural.
Her dialogue doesn't seem rehearsed or forced. It just comes out naturally again, as if she truly was the character, deeply involved in the situation of the scene. It's always as if she's improvising.

7- Her roles are very demanding and clever.
Most of the times, she chooses demanding roles in intelligent films. She has done some light comedies greatly of course, but in drama she's just breathtaking. She constantly makes smart choices for her career.

8- She's down to earth.
Behind cameras, she's a lovely and kind woman who doesn't take advantage of her celebrity status, and she could really do that. Even though she holds the record in awards, she doesn't even consider herself a star! She treats everybody, including her outrageous fans, kindly as if she was one regular person as well.

9- She's a devoted mother and wife.
She's been married for thirty years with Don Gummer and has four children. Many co-stars talk very good about her parenting skills and say she has an enourmous mothering instinct that shows in her relationship with everybody.

10- Her signature gestures.
This shows her overwhelming personality and also gives more humanity to her characters. In each role she plays there's always one of her signature gestures that apparently come out naturally. Some of them are the lip tap, the temple scratch, etc.

11- She knows what she does.
Whenever you see her on an interview you learn more about acting. She shows a real knowledge about acting, but at the same time she shows that she does not do everything technically and that many things about acting are pure emotion, and there's absolutely no way to describe it. With her Inside The Actor's Studio interview, I learned more about acting than with any other, or from any other source, really.

12- She loves what she does.
It shows. It shows in her performances, in her interviews, in her constant enthusiasm, energy, willpower and commitment.


Next: Marlon Brando.