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Considering the filmography that Meryl Streep has built throughout her years of success at the very top of Hollywood, it’s hard to imagine an acting challenge that she would not be able to overcome, probably winning yet another Oscar in the process.
However, interestingly, one of Streep’s most iconic roles made people raise eyebrows when the casting was first announced, which just goes to show how little insight industry insiders have on what can succeed at the box office or in the awards season.
Streep was almost exclusively associated with drama for the first three decades of her career. While there was no denying that she was one of her generation’s most gifted performers and more capable than most of completely disappearing into her role, tickling funny bones was hardly celebrated as her strongest suit.
Plenty of her powerhouse performances featured moments of levity, and movies such as She-Devil, Death Becomes Her, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events were decidedly lighter than the likes of The Deer Hunter, Ironweed, and Silkwood, but Streep was never really viewed as a natural comedian.
That’s not to say she couldn’t be funny, but her name wasn’t exactly being floated around in studio boardrooms when broad comedic pictures with crowd-pleasing appeal were being discussed behind closed doors either. To a certain extent, she was a victim of her own success, with Streep being so good at drama that it was hard for anyone to imagine her hamming it up for the cheap seats.
However, that all changed in the mid-2000s when The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! were released. The former saw Streep devouring the scenery as Miranda Priestly in a turn that was still acclaimed enough to win respect from major awards bodies after she secured a ‘Best Actress’ nomination at the Oscars and a Golden Globe win in the corresponding category for musicals and comedies.
And yet, producer Wendy Finerman admitted that some saw her status as a problem before a single frame had been shot. “I think that was part of the fun of the unexpected,” she explained of Streep’s casting. “People thought we were crazy. I mean, I had people call me up and say, ‘Are you out of your mind? She’s never been funny a day in her life’. She has been funny, and they were wrong.”
Not only were they wrong, but Streep leaned more into comedy than ever before and reaped the rewards, going on to deliver award-nominated performances in not only The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! but Nancy Meyers’ rom-com It’s Complicated, Rob Marshall’s musical fantasy Into the Woods and the biographical dramedy Florence Foster Jenkins.
While Finerman admitted that at the time, this was clearly a different kind of role for her, Streep, indeed, went on to prove all the naysayers wrong and birthed a character who continues to be adored by fans almost 20 years on from the film’s release date.
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