It’s hard to believe that acting legend Meryl Streep would ever forget how to act.
However, during a year of COVID-19 lockdowns, pandemic worries and career uncertainties, even the three-time Oscar winner temporarily couldn’t perform her craft while shooting her new comedy “Don’t Look Up.”
Streep, 72, told Entertainment Weekly on Thursday that she “found it really hard” to stay focused doing filming.
“I didn’t feel funny in the lockdown. When I would come in to shoot my stuff, [I’d] get out of the car and hadn’t spoken to anybody in three weeks,” the “Iron Lady” actress said. “[I’d] walk into the stadium in Worcester, put on the wig and the nails and the suit, and make a speech to all these people. I just lost it.
“I forgot how to act, I forgot what I was about. It sort of dismantles your humanity, to be isolated like that. But thank god for Jonah [Hill], because he kept us laughing,” she continued.
“Don’t Look Up” follows two astronomers (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) who go on a media tour to warn humanity of a comet that will destroy the world.
Hill, 37, plays Streep’s son and the president’s chief of staff and also spoke to EW about his time off set and working with Streep.
“I had so much fun,” the “21 Jump Street” actor said. “Once we were in that Oval Office it was so cool, because it was a bunch of people I either know really well and/or deeply respect. It was like, oh my god, we can joke around together. Meryl was so rad, not because of your stature in your art, but because of how fun and funny you were in the pocket of this character.”
There’s also one scene in the flick where the “Sophie’s Choice” star had to strip down and get a little naked. DiCaprio, 47, wasn’t too keen on that one particular scene and was “opposed” to the idea. The solution: to get a body double.
“She is fearless,” said director Adam McKay of Streep, while speaking with the Guardian earlier this week.
“And yes, that is a body double,” he continued. “But you know who had a problem with it? Leo [DiCaprio]. Leo just views Meryl as film royalty… although maybe royalty is not a compliment… but as such a special figure in the history of film.”
McKay added, “He didn’t like seeing her with the lower back tattoo, walking for a second naked. He said something to me like: ‘Do you really need to show that?’ And I was like: ‘It’s President Orlean; it’s not Meryl Streep.’ But she didn’t even blink. She didn’t even bring it up.”
“Don’t Look Up” is now in theaters and will debut on Netflix Dec. 24.