Meryl Streep, The Superhero We Need, Tells Me She Is Joking And I Die Inside

When Meryl Streep looks at you and tells you she is kidding – it’s over. I don’t know what is over but it’s done. It’s like, “Did Meryl Streep, queen of everything, just tell me she is joking?” She did. I didn’t get the joke. But now I do. Her humor is so effortless I missed it! And she needed to give me a disclaimer. Let me rewind.

Streep sat on a panel with fellow actors Hugh Grant (Elizabeth Hurley’s ex-husband) and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory) to promote the opening of Stephen Frears’ adorable new film Florence Foster Jenkins, opening nationwide August 12.

Set in 1940s New York, Florence Foster Jenkins is the true story of the legendary heiress and socialite (Streep) who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great singer. The voice she heard in her head was beautiful, but to everyone else it was hilariously awful. St. Clair Bayfield (Grant), an aristocratic English actor, was determined to protect his beloved Florence from the truth. Helberg plays her gawkish and timid pianist Cosme McMoon, who during one party scene, is hinted to be gay.

I was curious about this, so when I was called upon by the moderator, I decided to bring it up. The first few questions were all about “the process,” while the rest were ego stroking the queen who sat before us and demeaning the peasants who sat beside her. But I was interested in the gay shit.

I first asked Streep and Grant a question about pre-conceived notions, similar to what happened to her and Cher (again, gay shit) when they first worked together during Silkwood. But that question got overlooked by the fervor my second question caused in the tiny Ritz Carlton conference room we sat in.

Simon, can you tell us about Cosme’s gayness?

The room burst with laughter, and after it died down, Meryl blurted out, “Cosme is gay?”

The room laughed more. Worried I made a mistake outing the non-fictional character, I quickly retorted trying to explain myself, “I don’t know! Is he? It’s kind of hinted to in that one scene. There is something!”

The microphone had already been taken away from me, but that didn’t stop me from speaking up. I never really needed a microphone to begin with.

She heard the panic in my voice and then with affection and humor she yelped, “I’m kidding!”

Streep’s tone was like that of the crunchy granola, academic mother, making jokes in the kitchen before she heads to her pottery class at the Community Arts Center or her monthly four hour shift at the Co-Op. About to oven roast some brussel sprouts with vegan bacon, she shows she can get down with the kids and make jokes about things like queerness and gayness. Similar to Amy Poehler in Mean Girls, but instead of wearing a Juicy Couture sweat suit she is wearing a kimono inspired blousey top with sandals and socks. I really didn’t know it was possible to love her more but here I was – rosy cheeked and sweating and thinking, “I know this woman.”

Now to Simon’s answer that he finally got to after the room calmed down:

“It’s insinuated. It’s dealt with beautifully because it is not really talked about or hit on the head and it is just accepted and lovely. Probably at that time it wasn’t accepted but in these circles it was. It’s just interesting to look at him at that moment thinking – finding this affection for bodybuilding and these muscle men in the magazines he looked at. He probably didn’t know why he liked looking at these guys lifting weights so he thought I must like weight lifting. It’s an innocent moment before he realized what he was.”

That was good enough for me.

Of all of Streep’s quotes from the conference, her most amazing answer was in response to a rather generic question from one reporter, “I would like to hear Meryl talk about being a woman working in Hollywood today. Are there enough roles for women over 40 or 50 years old? What are your thoughts on this?”

“There are not probably enough but what I think is under siege in movies are stories about human beings… of all shapes and sizes and races and creeds. Yeah. I am not sure why we are in the superhero moment. Maybe because we need one.”

Florence Foster Jenkins opens August 12.