As anyone who closely follows the movie industry should know, the trends in Hollywood can be extremely difficult to predict. After all, there is a reason why during the 80s, slasher films seemed to be everywhere only for horror films to take a backseat until Scream rejuvenated the genre. Similarly, it often seems like every week there is a new movie star who has risen to the top only for them to largely disappear not too long afterward.
Since everything in Hollywood is so fleeting, it often seems shocking that a star like Meryl Streep has been a massive star for decades. However, given the fact that she is so respected that people were outraged when another star threw shade at Streep. Worse yet, when her fans learn how awful Dustin Hoffman was to Streep, they tend to be completely outraged.
Given the fact that Meryl Streep had already cemented her legacy by the 2000s, it is hard to imagine any role she took during that decade making a huge difference for her. Amazingly enough, however, Streep has revealed that starring in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada changed her life in a fascinating way.
A True Legend
During Meryl Streep’s decades-long career, she has put together arguably the most impressive filmography in Hollywood history. After all, in terms of box office receipts, Streep has starred in many successful films including the Mamma Mia! series, Mary Poppins Returns, It’s Complicated, Little Women, and Into the Woods.
Of course, one of the most impressive aspects of Meryl Streep’s career is the reputation she has built up with her peers. For proof of how highly respected she is in Hollywood, all you have to do is look at all of the awards Streep has won or been nominated for. Most notably, Streep has been nominated for 21 acting Oscars which is a record. In fact, that number is all the more impressive once you keep in mind that Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson are tied for second and they have 12 nominations apiece. While it is wonderful to have the respect of your peers, Meryl Streep can also rest assured that moviegoers everywhere truly adore her as well.
A Life-Changing Role
When people talk about her legacy, it often gets said is that Meryl Streep arguably is the best actor of all time. For that reason, it makes perfect sense that when the people at Fox decided to make 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, they wanted Streep to portray the movie’s most talked-about character, Miranda Priestly. After all, Priestly is the kind of character that could only be played by an actor with great range and a performer who carries themselves with a huge amount of gravitas.
Of course, just because Fox wanted Meryl Streep to star in The Devil Wears Prada doesn’t mean that she was desperate to land the role. Of course, she would ultimately star in the movie but as she explained to Variety for an article looking at the film’s tenth anniversary, Streep only agreed to star in The Devil Wears Prada after a sometimes tense negotiation.
Amazingly enough, as Meryl Streep revealed for the aforementioned interview, even though she was the perfect person to star in The Devil Wears Prada, the studio lowballed her at first. “The offer was to my mind slightly, if not insulting, not perhaps reflective of my actual value to the project.” When you think about it, there have never been headlines about Streep signing multi-million dollar deals. Given how great she is, that is truly ridiculous. Thankfully for her, Meryl Streep was so insulted by the salary Fox offered her to star in The Devil Wears Prada that she almost didn’t star in the film. “There was my ‘goodbye moment,’ and then they doubled the offer.”
Even though there is no doubt that Meryl Streep has been a movie star for decades, it has always been pretty clear that she considers herself an artist above all else. Perhaps that is the reason why Streep implied that up until her salary negotiations for The Devil Wears Prada, she never fought hard to get the kind of money for her work that an actor of her caliber deserves. Thankfully as she told Variety in the aforementioned interview, deciding to walk away from The Devil Wears Prada because she wasn’t being paid enough taught her something life-changing. “I was 55, and I had just learned, at a very late date, how to deal on my own behalf.”
