The Hollywood star, Meryl Streep has been deemed one of the greatest actresses of her time. She is abundant in natural talents and charisma which has supported her success; however it is fascinating to dive deeper into what has shaped her artistic perspective and guided her creative process
Streep’s approach has been heavily influenced by the Stanislavsky method of acting, which focuses on the use of personal experiences to fuel creative work. She adapted this approach by mapping out her character’s complete backstory beyond what is covered in the script, using thoughts and emotions to guide the story. While she tested method acting out, she does not need it to snap into character and gave it up altogether during the filming of The Devil Wears Prada. She treats acting like play rather than work, allowing her to ease in and out of characters when she’s on and off the screen.
In Mamma Mia! Streep had the chance to take on a new, whimsical role that allowed her to let go in the acting process. Judgements were made by highbrow critics over her acceptance of the musical role however, it was a success and became one of her most popular pieces of work to date. By embracing a role that was unserious, Streep was able to embody the character of Donna Sheridan through emotional connection.
In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin titles a chapter “Self-Awareness”, which describes being self-aware as the ability to notice how we think and feel without interference. Streep showed this self-awareness in her role as Donna, as she became swept up in the joy brought by the music and thus, she was able to perform incredibly.
Along with this, Rubin characterizes self-awareness as allowing us to understand the body and notice energies that push and pull. In Mamma Mia! Streep felt an energy shift from her previous roles that pulled her to play a more lighthearted character. In doing so, she demonstrated great self-awareness which Rubin calls an “abandonment of ego”, which in turn provokes growth in artistic work. Through a strong sense of self, Meryl Streep has continuously proved capable and worthy of a wide array of artistic roles.
Streep had incredible range as an actress and has been in the industry for a long time. It was interested to read about how she shifts from serious to playful characters without the consuming and disruptive techniques method actors utilize. Great connection to the focus book, as self-awareness is a crucial part in Streep not losing herself in a characters.
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading what you had to say about Streep and correlating it to the Rick Rubin book. It was fun to see how she changed a little of the way of acting when taking different roles. I also found it fascinating that she uses Stanislavsky's way of acting. The connection to the book also is a good connection related to the self-awareness that Rick Rubin talks about. Overall, it was fun to read your post about Meryl Streep.
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