Ellen TV: 119 Awards for Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep is a three-time Academy Award winner who was nominated for her role in August: Osage County and she was on the show to talk about her many accomplishments and her newest, brilliant role.
Ellen asked Meryl how she found out about the award, and she said she was dead asleep, late, because she didn’t think she had a chance. She explained that she thought she was “old news” she wasn’t going to be nominated. As Ellen said, “there’s no such thing as talent being old news.”
Ellen then asked Meryl Streep if she knew how many awards she has won in her life so far. Meryl shook her head and Ellen responded, “119 awards.”
Ellen: Oscar Nomination Snubs
Meryl Streep joined Ellen to talk about her movie ‘August: Osage County.’ (Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)
When talking about the Oscar nominations, Meryl said there were so many wonderful actresses and incredible movies that were nominated, but she was thinking of her friend Emma Thompson, who wasn’t nominated, and even Ellen said she was shocked by that. Meryl said she wrote her a long heartfelt email saying how bad she felt and Emma wrote her back and said “good.”
Ellen pointed out that it was also a shock that Tom Hanks wasn’t nominated. But she said it was no shocker at all that Meryl was nominated.
Last time Meryl Streep was on the show, Ellen told her she was going to win for Iron Lady, and she did.
Ellen TV: Meryl Streep Safari in South Africa
Meryl then started talking about her trip to South Africa, where she had never been before. She was making a film there from the book The Giver. She was there when Mandela died. She said you could feel a “huge combination of grief and exultation.”
She said they went on a safari after she finished filming. She said they saw a murder, when a snake was up in a tree eating a bird. Then they came upon some elephants. She said at first she thought the elephants were mother and son, until she realized it was a small female and a very large male. She said it was almost like the male was trying to harass her, until the small female let out a huge loud cry that caused three huge female elephants to call out and run across the river and take care of the male elephant.
Meryl then showed a video of a female lion literally right next to the car, ignoring them completely. She said she was there during the time of the year when all the babies are born so she saw baby rhinos and baby zebras “who are hilarious.”
Ellen: Meryl Streep “August: Osage County” Review
Ellen said the movie came out right before Christmas and either makes you feel better about your family, knowing they’re not that bad, or makes you think “that’s my family.”
Ellen said it must have been so much fun to play the character, but Meryl said no. “Because she’s so toxic,” she said. She said she’s so mean to people but the wonderful thing about her is that she’s incapable of lying so she really only tells the truth. “Sometimes she uses it as a weapon,” Meryl said of her character. “But sometimes she just says it because no one else is saying it.”
Meryl said the movie is about a matriarch who gathers the whole family back at the Oklahoma home and takes them all apart. Secrets are revealed. She said the movie was based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play. She said the play was about three hours, but they cut about an hour out of it for the film. “It’s sort-of a swifter trip but it’s still funny and scathing,” Meryl said.
She said everyone’s had those holiday dinners where you have one person who wants to start something while everyone else is sitting there thinking, “oh no.” Ellen said the movie is a little dark, but the cast was amazing and everyone’s performance, across the board, was wonderful.
Ellen TV: Meryl Streep Filming in Oklahoma
The movie was shot in Oklahoma, which Meryl said was interesting. Meryl said she thought it would be good if they all lived together in a Condo village. They asked her what car she wanted to get around and she asked for a Prius, thinking it would be simple, but they ended up going to all kinds of lengths to get it for her.
She said Oklahoma is shockingly beautiful, “varied and mysterious.” She said the sky is huge and “spiritually beautiful.”
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