Hollywood veteran actor Meryl Streep has spoken about how men find it hard to identify with female leads in films, noting how her iconic character, Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, was the first character she played that men said they could relate to.
In an interview at the Cannes film festival this week, the 74-year old actor said she’s had on more than one occasion, men approach her to say they understood how her character felt in her role as the cruel boss.
“It was more than one man that came and said, ‘I know how you felt. I know what it’s like to be the one to take the decisions, and nobody understands you,’” said Streep.
She added that historically, it has been “the hardest thing” for men to identify with a female lead actor, though acknowledged that progress has been made in the last few decades.
“The biggest stars in the world are women right now, although Tom Cruise is probably way over the top,” she said. “So many women are producing for themselves, and I’m so in awe of the ones who have done that.”
She went on to comment on the gender pay gap in Hollywood, attributing it to “not always just about money” but to the inability of men in positions of power (both consumers of movies and film executives) to sympathise with female characters on screen.
“Movies are a projection of people’s dreams, and even executives have dreams,” Streep said. “They’re living their fantasy. Before there were women in greenlight positions at studios, it was very hard for men to see themselves in a female protagonist.”
Streep receives honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes
Streep received the honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes on Tuesday night, receiving a two-minute standing ovation.
She said that the last time she was at Cannes to promote her film A Cry In The Dark, it was 1989 and she was “already a mother of three.”
“I was about to turn 40 and I thought that my career was over,” she said. “That was not an unrealistic expectation for actresses at that time. And the only reason that I’m here tonight and that it continued is because of the very gifted artists with whom I’ve worked, including Madame La President,” she added, referring to this year’s jury president Greta Gerwig.
She concluded her speech by saying that she is “just so grateful that you haven’t gotten sick of my face and you haven’t gotten off the train.”
“My mother, who is usually right about everything, said to me: ‘Meryl, my darling, you’ll see, it all goes so fast, so fast.’ And it has, and it does,” Streep said. “Except for my speech, which is too long.”
In her last appearance at Cannes, 35 years ago, she won the Cannes Best Actress award for her performance in A Cry In The Dark, which was based on the true story of Lindy Chamberlain, who was convicted of murder in 1982 after claiming her baby had been taken by a dingo on a family holiday two years prior.
During her interview on stage at the Théâtre Debussy, she explained that she was told she’d need nine bodyguards at the festival.
“‘You will need nine bodyguards’—I needed maybe a dozen the first time I came here,” she said. “Because in the olden days, there wasn’t the same security… so all the barriers weren’t there… the cameras were shoved up like this,” Streep explained, standing up and walking towards the interviewer to mimic cameras being pushed into her face.
“It was insane. And I almost didn’t recover from that, I went to the hotel room and was like this…(she mimicked herself shaking) and I couldn’t believe how wild it was.”
“That was thirty-five years ago, it’s changed a lot, the world has changed a lot. … That’s what I remember about it, really.”
“The moment of getting the prize, I don’t think I remembered it. I was so afraid.”
“Really?” The male interview asked incredulously. “You were afraid?”
“I was afraid, yeah,” Streep said. “Of what?” the interviewer asked. “I don’t know, I’m not a rock star,” Streep answered, to which the interview replied, “You are.”
One X user posted footage of the interview, writing: “Meryl Streep didn’t feel safe at Cannes the first time she came to the festival, so much so that she doesn’t really remember winning the award. The interviewer laughed about it but I think what she said should have been addressed (and heard) in a more serious way.”
One commenter wrote, “That interviewer thinks that her being afraid is so absolutely beyond comprehension is maddening. Just… how do you not *get* it?”