Meryl Streep is a name to reckon with. The actress who is actually named as Mary Louise “Meryl” Streep, is called the best actress of her generation and probably to have ever existed. For every role that Meryl does, she has a nomination in her name. The name versatility and Meryl are synonymous with each other.
Meryl Streep is known for her versatility and for the ability to do different accents. So far she has been nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, winning three out of those. Meryl also has 32 Golden Globe nominations in her name, out of which she has won eight.
Meryl began her career with Trelawny of the Wells. Then she went on to do 27 Wagons Full of Cotton for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Meryl’s next project was A Memory of Two Mondays in 1976.
It was in the year 1977, Meryl finally made her film debut in Julia. Her first Oscar nomination was for the movie The Deer Hunter. Meryl won a Primetime Emmy Award for her leading role in the miniseries Holocaust. For Kramer vs. Kramer, Meryl won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a Holocaust survivor in Sophie’s Choice.
There are just way too many Meryl movies and projects to be named. For now, we will count her ten most converted projects on IMDb. Here we go.
Heartburn (6.1)
Heartburn is a 1986 American romantic comedy-drama film.
The movie is centered around Nora Ephron’s novel which is based on her personal experiences married to Carl Bernstein. Even though the movie is an adaptation, Heartburn (1986) is a semi-fictionalized version of the book. The tale is about a food writer, Rachel Samstat played by Meryl Streep and is married to Mark Forman played by Jack Nicholson’s who is a womanizer.
Through the course of their marriage, she discovers her husband is having an affair. She is pregnant with their second baby and she realizes she married him without thinking about his past.
Heartburn is directed and produced by Mike Nichols.
Ironweed (6.7)
Ironweed is a 1988 American drama film.
Meryl again partnered with Jack Nicholson in this movie. They play a couple, Francis Phelan and Helen Archer who are rendered homeless in the wake of the Great Depression. Ironweed is based on a book with the same name by author William Kennedy. Interestingly William also wrote the screenplay and won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel.
Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor for their Ironweed parts as Helen and Francis respectively. Ironweed is directed by Héctor Babenco. The film also stars Carroll Baker, Michael O’Keefe, Diane Venora, Fred Gwynne, Nathan Lane, and Tom Waits in the supporting roles.
Death Becomes Her (6.6)
Death Becomes Her is a 1992 American black comedy.
The film is based on a tale of rivalry between two women: Goldie Hawn’s Helen Sharp, and Meryl Streep’s, Madeline Ashton Melville. Death Becomes Her won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. The star cast includes Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini, and Meryl Streep.
Death Becomes Her is directed by Robert Zemeckis and is written by David Koepp and Martin Donovan. The story is such that Helen Sharp and Madeline Ashton Melville drink a magic potion to become eternally young. But then unpleasant side effects occur. They die to rise again as walking, talking corpses.
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (7.0)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a 1981 British romantic drama film.
This movie is directed by Karel Reisz and produced by Leon Clore. It has been adopted by the playwright Harold Pinter. The French Lieutenant’s Woman is based on a 1969 novel by the same name written by John Fowles.
The star cast of the movie besides Meryl includes Jeremy Irons in the lead roles. Other supporting actors include Hilton McRae, Peter Vaughan, Colin Jeavons, Liz Smith, Patience Collier, Richard Griffiths, David Warner, Alun Armstrong, Penelope Wilton, and Leo McKern.
One of Meryl Streep’s greatest performances that earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Additionally, the movie also earned an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The French Lieutenant’s Woman has one of the most profound musical scores that is provided by Carl Davis. The cinematography is by Freddie Francis.
All in all, the film received five Oscar nominations.
A Cry In The Dark (6.9)
Evil Angels was released as A Cry in the Dark outside Australia and New Zealand.
This is an Australian drama film directed by Fred Schepisi. The story is centered around the real-life events of a mother who lost her two-month-old baby who was killed by a dingo. The is the case of the disappearance of a nine-week-old baby girl, Azaria Chamberlain,
She disappeared from a campground near Uluru in August 1980. The public charged her parents, the Chamberlains, Michael Chamberlain and Lindy Chamberlain with her disappearance. The rest of the movie is about their legal struggle to prove their innocence to the public.
A Cry in the Dark is based on the screenplay by Schepisi and Robert Caswell, which again is based on John Bryson’s 1985 book of the same name.
Meryl Streep and Sam Neill star as the Chamberlains in A Cry in the Dark.
The Deer Hunter (8.1)
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film.
The films tell the tale of a former trio of steelworkers, now soldiers (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage) in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania. Although Meryl plays a supporting role here, the film is majorly about the lives of the people living in the town. It portrays the effects of the U.S. Vietnam War on their lives.
The Deer Hunter is co-written and directed by Michael Cimino. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam.
The Iron Lady (2012) 6.4
The Iron Lady is a 2011 British biographical drama film.
This movie just came out in 2011. It tells the tale of Britain’s first-ever female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The was a British stateswoman and politician who became the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century.
Meryl’s Margaret character in the movie was so compelling, it became difficult to separate the actor and character. However, Meryl plays the older Thatcher, Alexandra Roach plays the younger Thatcher.
The Iron Lady is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and written by Abi Morgan. It also marked Streep’s third Oscar win, 29 years after her second one.
Kramer Vs. Kramer (7.8)
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American legal drama film.
This movie boosted Meryl and Dustin’s career since both of them played iconic roles. The movie is basically a legal drama and a custody battle between Joanna Kramer, and her ex-husband Ted Kramer for their child, Justin Henry. The movie was marked with controversies, since Hoffman, in character, had slapped Meryl Streep in the movie.
The slap wasn’t a part of the script and he had not asked for her consent. Meryl Streep talked about it on multiple occasions.
The movie was important since it depicted the effects of divorce on the psychology of young children. It also questioned the gender roles of the time. In the year 1979, it became the highest-grossing film of the year when it came out.
Sophie’s Choice (7.6)
Sophie’s Choice is a 1982 American drama film directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Meryl plays a Nazi holocaust war survivor in the movie named Sophie. Her husband/lover is an abusive man the Jewish-American Nathan, who happens to be obsessed with the Holocaust. Sophie and Nathan’s relationship is affected by this obsession and Sophie’s past trauma.
A young writer named Stingo comes to live with them. He serves as the narrator of the film. Sophie’s Choice is directed by Alan J. Pakula and is adapted from William Styron’s 1979 novel of the same name.
Streep’s performance in Sophie’s Choice maybe her career-best, she received the Academy Award for Best Actress for the same.
Out Of Africa (7.2)
Out of Africa is a 1985 American epic romantic drama film.
Steep has done a brilliant portrayal of Karen Blixen, a Danish baroness and plantation owner in the movie. Out of Africa is directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. It is loosely adapted from the 1937 autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen.
It is basically a love story of Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton. Denys is a big-game hunter. Karen escapes marrying Baron Bror Blixen, to be with Denys Finch Hatton.
