Yes, she’s been nominated sixteen times and won twice but that means she is fourteen times a loser. However, there are a few things that might be the cause of her twenty-eight year drought. Maybe other nominated performances are better than hers? Maybe politics gets in the way? Or MAYBE her performances just aren’t that good?
Just kidding about that last one. Well, kind of. She still turns in great performances but maybe she has set her own bar too high? Her role in “Sophie’s Choice” is oft regarded as one of the greatest film performances of all time and maybe nothing since has lived up to it? On the other hand, four-time best actress Oscar winner, Katharine Hepburn, didn’t like Meryl. According to her biographer, Hepburn once said, “Click, click, click,” about the wheels she could see turning inside Meryl’s head. While this certainly doesn’t apply to her early career, her recent roles definitely have a very calculated feel about them. It might have to do with the fact that with the exception of “Doubt” Streep’s recently nominated performances have come from imitating other people be it Anna Wintour or Julia Child.
She is also imitating former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the soon to be released film, “The Iron Lady.” The Weinstein’s are releasing the film sight unseen. This usually doesn’t bode well for a movie or the performances in it. Then again, it really doesn’t take as much publicity for a Streep performance to get the attention of the Academy. Maybe a well time released is all she needs to secure a nomination? Then again, maybe the film needs some extra editing to strike the right chord with voters.
However, the problem Streep needs to overcome to win Best Actress for “The Iron Lady” is unlikely to stem from lack of receiving a nomination. Convincing the Academy that the performance merits the award is the main hurdle. The more nominations that Meryl receives the less likely she is to win. Every year she is nominated in a category there are also four other actresses nominated. These four actresses might be good but I doubt they will have as many chances to win as Streep. In fact, it might be the only chance for the Academy to award Best Actress to someone who they feel is “owed” an Oscar. Then there is also the chance that Streep might not have the best performance that year or the most lauded.
This year she is likely to face opposition from the following actresses who have also received awards season buzz:
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Glenn Close. Albert Nobbs
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Viola Davis, The Help
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
It is quite a formidable group with Michelle Williams looking like the front-runner. Everyone else has either won an Oscar or is promising enough to be nominated again save Kirsten Dunst. She might be seen as someone who is “owed” an Oscar for her legitimately awesome performance in Melancholia. However, if Dunst does manage to get a nomination for the underplayed film she would still likely be beat by Michelle Williams.
On the other hand, if Streep’s performance is good enough maybe she can take them all down. With the right campaign Streep could overtake Williams. Maybe the right move is to bill her as the underdog in this match-up. The down on her luck actress (she hasn’t won in twenty eight years) looking to beat the up and coming ingenue who is just coming into her own. On second thought, maybe it will take the best performance of all time to win Streep another Oscar. However it plays out, 2012 is not looking like Meryl’s year to win Best Actress unless Streep as Margaret Thatcher is that performance. We will just have to see when it is released on December 30th.
