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It sounds like a confession from someone waiting nervously outside her first audition, not a woman with three Academy Awards. Yet Meryl Streep has said she doesn't know how to act.
The remark was not a theatrical attempt at modesty. It came during a lively conversation about her craft, her colleagues, and the difficulty of playing one of cinema's most intimidating bosses.
The surprise behind the confession
Speaking with People alongside Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt while discussing The Devil Wears Prada 2, Streep admitted that she is still astonished by what other performers can accomplish. Rather than presenting a polished formula for success, she described acting as a process of paying attention, feeling her way into a scene, and listening to the people around her.
The spark for that admission was a visit to Broadway. Streep had seen Laurie Metcalf in Death of a Salesman and was so impressed that she joked about retiring. Imagine being Metcalf and hearing that one of the world's most decorated actors had watched your work and wondered how you managed it.
The woman who played Sophie in Sophie's Choice, a conflicted mother in Kramer vs. Kramer, and Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady apparently has not reached a point where acting feels effortless. Those three performances brought her Academy Award wins, but admiration for somebody else's work remains intact.
The cost of being Miranda
Her confession becomes more revealing when she describes the original The Devil Wears Prada. As the icily commanding Miranda Priestly, she deliberately kept a distance from the younger cast. She believed that separation might preserve the character's formidable authority, but the experiment came with a price: it made filming lonely.
While Hathaway, Blunt, and their colleagues enjoyed the camaraderie of the set, Streep retreated to her trailer. She recalled knitting there, cut off from the convivial atmosphere. It is an almost comic image: one of Hollywood's great screen tyrants working away at yarn while her co-stars had fun outside.
In a later Vogue conversation with Anna Wintour, Streep explained that the distance had been a conscious choice, not a reflection of her usual personality. Returning to Miranda for the sequel felt different. She knew the character already and could rediscover her without repeating every uncomfortable decision.
What experience hasn't taken away
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There is something refreshing about a performer who can look back on decades of extraordinary work without pretending that creativity has become automatic. Streep's comment does not diminish her skill; it reveals how much she still notices in other artists.
Her most delightful admission may be that watching a brilliant colleague can leave her feeling like a beginner. For someone with a career almost nobody could replicate, that capacity for surprise might be the most remarkable accomplishment of all.
