Every Time Meryl Streep Appeared on 'Ellen'

[music] [cheering] [music] [cheering] Oh. Um. Um. Oat and about. Oat. Oat and a boat. Boat and a boat. And everything else. Like just like this. Yeah. [applause] Oh, I'm so excited to have you here. Well, I'm pretty excited to be here. [laughter] You're just fantastic in everything you do. I run into you once in a while. I don't know you, but I know we run into each other at the bar at events. Yeah. Yes. That's where we are at at the events because you know to get there first because it gets crowded after that. You

really do. You learn how to make a beline. Yeah. [laughter] But you are one of those people that I just feel like even the first time I met you that I knew you. Oh, which is amazing because you never play the same. People feel like that about me, but I'm always myself. But you're always something else. Well, also we look like we could be related. Do we too? I'm flattered. Don't you think? I don't know. I think a little bit. Yeah. Look like a lot of people in my family. Really? Yeah. Yeah. That's a compliment

for a good-looking girl. Or I look like a whole bunch of people. I don't know. I don't know what that means. Now, well, we should play we should do a movie together then. Yeah. Shouldn't we? All right. [cheering] Such a great idea. Yeah. [applause] We'll work on it. I know. That would be cool. Now, so and third, is it is that some kind of record? 13 uh nominations for an Oscar. It It is the record, right? I I don't Yeah, I think. But I don't like I think even though it is. I also It is

right. [cheering] [applause] I also um I hold the record for losing more 13 not getting the you're saying well yeah but but you I I don't know have you ever done anything you haven't been nominated for? Uh yeah, a lot of them really. I mean, I made like I don't know 30 something movies, maybe more. 40 something. I don't know. I I don't look back, Ellen. Yeah. [laughter] You're so brilliant and everything. And that's probably why you actually had uh Merryill Street Day in New York. They've given you Merryill Street Day. Yeah. That What's that

like to have a day [applause] every year? Steve Virginia Fields, who's a wonderful lady in New York who's running for mayor right now. Uh she handed me a certificate and told me it was Merryill Street day. And so I I went out of there feeling pretty buoyant, you know. Yeah. Then I tried to get a cab and you know and uh I finally I hailed one and I ran out into the street and this woman cut me off and jumped in ahead of me and I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. [laughter] It's Merryill Street. There

you go. [applause] [cheering] I'm gonna use that. [applause] Now, did she did she just think that you were a little cuckoo? Because uh I mean, she hadn't been to the ceremony. She said, "Yeah, but you're not Merryill Street." No, she said she said, "Oh my god, you're her." And I said, "Yeah." So, I said, "Let's share the cab." And so we both got in and we started talking and um she you know she was perfectly lovely woman and paid my fair. Wouldn't let even let me uh pay. What a great day for her. Yeah, [laughter]

it's a great day for on Meil Street Day. It's And also the fact that you've had you think about the Films you've done and the accomplishments and you've been married this for 27 years. to be able to do all that and stay married. There's got to be some secret to that. [applause] I mean, really, that's so rare, [applause] right? Yeah. Well, that's enormous forbearance on the part of my husband, I think, and pretty generous spirit and everything. He's a great guy. Yeah. And uh so does he ever travel with you or and and go with

you? No, that's the secret of a long Oh, I see. [laughter] That's the secret. That in separate bathrooms. All right. All right. We have to take a break. We're going to come back with Merryill Street right after this. [applause] Back to Meryill Street. So, that's your new movie. It's called Prime. Called Prime. Yeah. And And it's about an older woman who falls in love with a younger man. You're the therapist. And uh you know, you're so hilarious. your your timing when you do comedies is just so genius. The the one thing when she's describing sex

with him and you're trying to drink water and The reaction when you're it's just there's nothing to describe. It's just it's a funny uh it's a funny script, man. I got that and I thought, "Oh, I'm jumping at it." But they pitched it to me. They said, you know, it's a story of an older woman and a younger man. And I thought, "Oh, that might be fun." Uh-huh. And then I realized that the older woman was Uma Thurman. Uh-huh. [laughter] Right. And I was the older older woman. Yeah. [laughter] So, it's okay. Yeah. It's it's

really funny. It's a great premise and and uh and like I said, you just trying to act like you're not upset is so hilarious in that. Yeah. Well, I'm often trying to act like I'm not upset. [laughter] Now you that's just a New York accent that you're doing sort of in that a Jewish that's a very specific kind of upper westside kind of shrink thing. I mean yeah you're so good at at any dialect. I mean you know in Sophie's Choice and and you just are so right on. I'm not really No, I'm not. Yes.

[laughter] I have to work at you know I have to listen to the specific thing. Yeah. I'm not like Tracy man. she can really do any anybody right like that. I'm I'm I think you're I think you're pretty close to to that. But um what I thought we'd do because that's sort of what I'm known for also is my dialects. So um [applause] [cheering] so here you go. if you'll put this hat on. And uh there's Velcro on the front of it. And so what we'll do is um Well, my head must be too big.

Well, it's probably the bun behind there. That's perfect right there. All right. So, who's going to start? Uh Marel, why don't you start? You You pick one up and put it. Okay. Don't cheat. Don't Oh, look what you're doing already. So you pick it up there and then stick it front. So you don't know what that is. Stick it there. And I have to tell you so. Oh my you don't know what you are being. See [cheering] there. There. [applause] Uh give all smear. Uh, [laughter] Yiddish. Um, [screaming] [applause] [laughter] oh, don't look at it.

Don't look at it. I didn't see a fish. All right. All right. Oh, well. [laughter] Hey, you guys. What you doing with the fish over there? Get it to the market right away if I'm not getting Oh, no. I Oh, I love my clam chowder so much. Oh, the boss. Yeah. [applause] Wow. You're good. Thanks. Um yo, I'm trying to tell you something. [laughter] Oh, man. I can't do that. I have it where I um you know I was [applause] you are you being a rapper? [laughter] Uh 50 cent [laughter] uh think uh you know

think uptown way way up Brooklyn. Uh Bronx Brooklyn. [cheering] [applause] Oh, jolly ho. My tallyh ho. That I love crumpets and something. Uh uh some chicken. Why did I say chicken? [laughter] I think it might be English. It is. I think [applause] chicken. Oh. Uh. Oat and a boat. Um. Um. Oat and a boat. Oat. Oat and a boat. Boat and a boat. And everything else like just like this. Yeah. [applause] Oh, hooray my mate. Down under. I'm going to the Bobby. Oh, [laughter] that was Come on. Poor Australia. Yeah. Yeah. [cheering] All right. [applause]

Prime opens in theaters on October 28th. We'll be right back. Don't go away. [applause] Hi, Mel. Hi. I could just gush for like I I I I don't want to talk about anything other than how amazing you are as a human being number one and then as as an actress and and in this role. Oh my god. Oh my god. Thank you very much. Yeah. You're going to win this thing. I mean there's no doubt in my mind you're going to win this thing. [cheering] [applause] Thank you very much. Mark my words and there's some

good performances out there that you're up against this year. I think Michelle Williams was great. Beautiful. Bernice in The Artist. Amazing. Oh, incredible. But but you're going to win. I I promise you. There's a lot of great performances this year. And I love all of those women and the performances. You'll win. Yeah. [applause and cheering] How about the great Viola Davis? Can we mention her? Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. I don't know everybody nominated there on this. And you won the New York Film Critics Award a couple of days ago, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you you're

just Me and Brad Pitt. Yes. Really? Well, he wasn't the actress. He wrote the actress, right? No. So, it's exciting. It's very exciting. Yeah. It was very, very exciting. Anyway, I'm happy to see you. And uh it's been six years since you've been here. And I'm going to look at you because I can't see you. Really? Yeah. No, I can't. If I got up and moved around, you'd never know. Like when you [laughter] were talking, I could actually hide and you'd still be looking in this direction. It's true. Really? These are so dirty. Yeah. I

can't even see through them anyway. So, there you go. Okay. Thanks. Do you Do you wear contact lenses ever? I I used to uh but [laughter] what I can't imagine. I only uh need glasses to read. I can see far away, but I can't see close up. But I would think that would be hard to put contacts in. That's why I asked. Yeah, it's hard to and I would forget that I had them in and I would leave them in all night and that isn't good. No. And I did that a number of times. I

have a bad memory except you know there's no way you have a bad memory with all the things you have to memorize and and Yeah. But you know the the there are other things that I forget. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Like contacts I guess. Oh like contacts and you know flossing and things [laughter] like that. That's very important. I know you should floss. When's the last time you flossed? Just before I came in. Good. Good. So that's good. And before that? Maybe like a week ago. Yeah. I don't remember. It's awards season. You got to floss

every day now. There's a [laughter] lot. So, you've got the Globes coming up this Sunday. Yeah. And and and you've been to the Oscars and the Globes many, many times now. Is it is it the same experience? Because I know your life is very different when you're not here because you live, you know, a totally different way. Is it the same experience for you every time or is it different? Well, every time I stay in a different hotel, which is really exciting. [laughter] You must be running out of hotels. You've been here a lot. This

time I have one that has um when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom um I the the lid was on the toilet so I I reached for it and it wrestled itself away from me and opened by itself. Wow. It didn't want me to do it. No, no, let me do it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. It's that fancy. That is a fancy hotel. Yeah. I have to know where that is. And is it one of those with the seat warmers and all that stuff? Yeah, the seat is warm

and soft. you. Oh, I mean there are a lot of upsetting things. Yeah, [laughter] maybe you're staying in a haunted house or something. Maybe it's not a hotel at all. Yeah. So, so when you go to these things now, obviously I talked about how many times you've been nominated. Do you have obviously you have some kind of speech ready in your mind, so you must have a whole lot left to pick from. Like when you go up now, you like just there's a lot of people to thank. Yes. Yes, there are a lot of people

to thank because um I mean certainly in the Oscars I've lost for 14 14 times. So I have 14 little crumpled up speeches. Uhhuh. I've threatened to issue them in a book or something. I was going to say, have you kept the speeches? It'd be interesting to see what you would say then. And yeah, well it's hundreds of names of people that never that are mad at me because you know they never got mentioned. That's not true. [clears throat] That's Well, they're mad because you didn't win. And also cuz you're so great on stage, too.

I would think people would just no matter what role you're in, just because we want to see you talk on stage that we should just vote for you no matter what. That's what I [laughter] feel. That's a good rule. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about uh and this article, by the way, I I love the article and I love the things you're talking about in here, and we should talk about that for a minute, too. it um on the cover of Vogue magazine and you uh you said to the writer that you thought maybe you

were the oldest woman on the cover of Vogue and you you actually you are the oldest woman on the cover which is fantastic. I think that's a really important thing. [applause] 62 look great. And uh and here you are. Uh is this sort of near where you live? That's um that's on a in a community supported agriculture a a farmer my friend Andy Andy Shimanowitz. He runs a place called Soulflower Farm and you you pay a certain amount of money each summer and you get a share of all the vegetables that he grows. It's a

beautiful thing. Why can't we do that everywhere? Why can't we get farmers back to farming and and get fresh vegetables and getting farmers making money? They need the help. That's for sure. Yeah, they do. And then um can we just talk about for a minute? We weren't going to talk about this right now, but what you're what you're trying to We're going to talk about the next segment. I guess we'll take a break. We'll talk about why you didn't earn a penny for this role. Uh and uh what you're doing because I think it's so

important. So important. We'll be back with no [applause] Can we [cheering] have the other one also? Another [applause] one. That's um that's it's it's it's so amazing. So, we'll talk about this first, but how long did it take you to get into makeup for for that for the older part? Um the movie takes place in three days of older Margaret Thatcher's life. So, she's 86. Mhm. And um it was remarkable how little they actually had to do for my makeup. The the That's not true. And that and the just the walk, the way that you

captured the the walk. How does it feel To become Because you must have just become that woman. Yeah. Well, I think we all have the little girl we used to be inside of us and we all have the old woman that we're going to be eventually if we're lucky. Mhm. And um it's just sort of, you know, settling into that. That's just how we sink. You know, gravity really pulls you. And so for a lot of the characterization had to do with just, you know, standing. I I like to stand up straight because my mother

told me to, but a lot of the movie I stand like this and walk like you walk sideways. It Oh god, that must have hurt. Yeah. So yeah, at the end of the day, I was really happy to to I'm banging. That's right. Sorry. She bangs. Um [applause] Yeah. So it was really great just to be 62 at the end of the day, you know, take it all off, right? Feel so young. Jump up and down. Now, but how long uh were you in makeup for for that uh age? For this one, it was about

um an hour and change. The older one took about two hours. Um really, I can't I can't say enough about uh your performance in this movie. It's just it is just so right on and you were just you just disappear. I mean, you really really Merryill Streep was gone. You were Margaret Thatcher and it was just it was a brilliant performance. Thank you very much. Brilliant. So, let's talk about why you didn't make a penny for this movie and and what you're doing, which is Well, I did. I made a million dollars, but I gave

it away. I gave it to the National Women's History Museum that we're trying to raise money for to build on the mall in Washington because we think that women's history needs to be told. [applause] [applause] So, it is a website right now. It's it's really just a website right now. Uh but it's a virtual museum now, but right but but tell the story of uh of this woman, this 21-year-old woman, Deborah. Tell the story. Well, I one of the I mean there are million stories in history that we don't know about. Like we know we

know the name of our first traitor, Benedict Arnold. Everybody knows this name, but we don't know the first woman who took a bullet for her country. And that was this woman named Deborah Samson, who was 21 years old in the Revolutionary War. her brother served and of course women were not allowed to serve. when he was killed, she took his name, she took his clothes, and she enlisted and um she took two musk balls, which are big British bullets in her thigh in one battle, and they carried her her uh you know, mates carried her

to a doctor and she also had had a cut, a saber cut in her forehead, so he sewed that up first. And then he was going to take her pants down. She wouldn't let him. She limped away. And she was very good with a needle. So she cut the bullets out of her leg, one of them. The other one was lodged too deeply. And she sewed it back up. And then the war was over and she put on a dress and went home to Massachusetts and married a very impoverished farmer, had a couple kids, and

sued for her u disability. [laughter] Unbelievable. Yeah. And um uh Washington didn't want to give it to her, but her friend Paul Rivere interceded on her behalf and finally after she when she was 50 years old, she got her pay, which was $40 a year and um it helped her, you know, it helped her. It's a great story. No one knows and we don't know this, you know. We need to know things like this. [applause] All right. Well, we're going to take another break and we're going to come back and we're going to play a

game because there's a lot of people you've kissed through all the all the movies that you've been in. There's a lot of lips that I I'd like you to see if you remember and recognize. [laughter] They're not here. It's just pictures. Okay. All right. We'll be right back. We're back with Maril Street. And uh you've kissed a lot of actors over the years and we want to see how well uh you would recognize just the lips, you know. Okay. Just just the lips. All right. Let's see the first set of lips. I have no idea

who's that. Is that George Clooney? I never kissed him. No, maybe you have. Um, no, it's uh Alec Baldwin. That's not Alec Baldwin. [applause] Oh, that's I don't know what you're looking at when you're kissing, but you're all right. Let's see the next set of lips. Oh, that's Clint. That's Clint Eastwood, right? That's right. [applause] All right. [laughter] It's easy because I'm looking at the name, but it is kind of hard when you look at that. Oh, I just have no idea. It's uh you Death Becomes her with him. Oh, that's Bruce. That's Bruce Willis,

right? [applause] All right. I don't think I kissed him, though. You didn't kiss him? I didn't kiss him. Well, he said you did. All right. Next set of lips. [laughter] That's Emma. Emma Thompson and Angels in America. Yep. [applause] [laughter] All right. Next set of lips. kiss a lot of people. That looks like Duke Gingrich. [snorts] Did you kiss him? [laughter] No. No, no, no. Uh, again, it's it's complicated. Oh, it's um Oh, it's that's Steve. Yeah, Steve Martin. But it looks like Al Oh, okay. [applause] I thought it was Albert Brooks. It looks It

does look like Albert Brooks. Well, let's see the next ones. That's Albert Brooks. That's Albert Brooks. defending your life. [laughter] Oh, that was a great movie. Um, and let's see the next set of lips. Huh. Oh, that looks like that looks like I don't know. How many women have you kissed? I mean, [laughter] that's the second set of lips of of a woman. And now, how many Is that a woman? Yes, that's a woman. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I I can't remember how many women. [laughter] It's Sandra Bulock. Oh, yeah. Right. Yes.

Okay. [applause] At the Critics's Choice Awards. That's right. That's right. All right. Uh [laughter] The Iron Lady. Yeah. You don't remember that? Yeah. Yeah, I got it. Yeah. All right. The Iron Lady is in select theaters now and it opens everywhere tomorrow. You must go see this movie cuz she's going to win. We'll be right [cheering] back. So, congratulations. Oh my gosh. Congratulations. I still feel that way. I know. All the way on Monday. It happened way back on Thursday [laughter] and you're still feeling that way. It happened early Thursday morning. All right. And uh

congratulations. And how did you find out? Were you like waiting by the phone? No, I was dead asleep late and um because I didn't think I had a chance, you know. Really? Yeah. Really? How in the world can you have a performance like that? Now, you have to be you have to have some perspective. You have to back away and go, "Now, that was a I'm good, but that was great." [laughter] Thank you, Alan. Well, no, I had because you know, you read the papers and don't do that. They all say, "Oh, she doesn't have

a chance." But um because I'm so old news, you know, that is that is crazy. [laughter] There is there is no uh such thing as talent being old news. Your talent is [cheering] that [applause] so do you know how many awards that you have won so far in your lifetime? I do. [laughter] 119 awards. Oh my god. [cheering] [applause] Let's talk about um the first of all, it's it's an amazing year and I am so thrilled and honored that I am hosting this year cuz what an amazing movie. Thank you. Well, you're so much fun.

The last time I hosted, I was vacuuming and you lifted your feet for me and um you played along. It was great. I'm going to find you again this year and do something [laughter] with you in the audience again. But um you it's Amy Adams and Kate Kate Blanchett and Judy Dench and Sandra Bulock and uh amazing movies, amazing women. Yeah. But there was so many performances this year that were great. I mean I'm thinking of my friend Emma Thompson who was shocked. Yeah, I was [applause] I mean, yeah, I was really shocked and I

wrote her a long heartfelt email saying, you know, how how bad I felt and she wrote me back and said, "Good." [laughter] That's Emma. That's hilarious. Yeah. No, it really is. It was a shock that she wasn't nominated. Tom Hanks wasn't nominated. I know. A lot of surprises and injustices, but I really I really did think you would be nominated because that performance was just so incredible. I mean, you were so good in that movie and and the last time you were here, you were here for uh Iron Lady, right? And I said you were

going to win for that. And you did win for that. Yeah. Yeah. That was amazing that you said that. Yeah. [applause] Well, you're so you're so wonderful. So, you were just When were you in Africa? I want to hear about this trip because I've never been and I'm dying to go. You really have to go. We were in South Africa where I'd never been before. I'd been to Kenya when we made out of Africa. I lived there for six months then and that was astonishing films. Yeah, it was really a wonderful time. This time we

went to South Africa which is uh I'd never been and we happened to be I was making a film there um from uh the the book The Giver. A lot of people know this book, Lois Lowry's book, middle school kind of young adult book. And um we were there early December and uh and it was when Mandela died. So, it was interesting to be there when all the molecules shifted in Cape Town because it really did. You could feel this huge um combination of of you know, grief and exaltation because people because he was such

a singular figure, amazing man. But yeah, we were there and then we went off on uh safari after I finished the film and we were up in the north which is amazing. Amazing. And you saw lots of animals. People are lucky if they see one. But you saw crazy things happen. Yeah, we did. I mean, the first day we were arrived at at dusk and they said, "Well, we'll go out for a little drive. We may not see anything." And we saw a murder and a near um That must be hard to watch, [laughter] though.

What was a lion getting something? It was um It was a snake up in a tree eating a bird in the very last bit of bits. Wow. Happening. It was really alarming. And um and then we came upon some elephants. And the elephants are amazing. They're huge herds of them uh divided on two sides of a river. And there was one that looked like Dumbo and his mom, you know. And as we watched them moving across, I realized that it wasn't Dumbo and his mom. It was a little female and a very, very large male

uh on her tail. And we were all sort of going, "Oh, [laughter] oh, maybe we'll see something we don't want to see." You know, and um and uh but she clearly she was very small. The the uh our guide said, "She's too young," you know, and and she was kept looking back and and going and we were just so worried. And they came closer and closer to the truck. He was oblivious to everything where we Were sitting and he was really [groaning] all over her. And she lifted her little trunk and she just uttered this

cry that was like human. And it was like and across the river there were three huge female elephants and they went and they got in the river and they went across like this and they just you know took care of his business and he was like yay [cheering] good for the female [applause] elephants. What a thing to see. Oh my god. And then we saw the snake eating the bird. And then we went back for dinner and it was like, "Wow." Exhausted and oh my god. Thank God. The next day we got up and it

was raining and we and the guide said, "Well, we probably won't see anything today. I don't know how much time you have. I could go for hours on this." Well, I just want to They're saying to take a break, but there's a lion video though, right? Do you have a lion? Can we just see that? Cuz I I just need to see what this is. What is happening here? Okay. This is a female lion. Are you taking this? Yeah, that's me. It's why I don't direct. [laughter] Now watch her. This is how close she is

to my family. Everyone I love. She just ignores us and she sees there were eight little babies back there. You couldn't see. Yeah, I saw the babies. And now she's seen something in the woods ahead and she's going to go get it. It's amazing. Did she get it? Did you watch what she done? No, we we didn't see her because then her two girlfriends went over. They were going to help her with this kill. But it, you know, we were there in the time of of the year when all the babies are born. So, we

saw baby rhinos and we saw baby zebras that are just hilarious. Yeah, I bet. They're just they're just ridiculously cute. I want to go so bad. I I just every time someone comes on and and they've been on a safari, I just I'm dying to go. All right, we will take a break. I hate I just could talk to you forever. We'll take a break and we'll come back with Merryill. Oh my [cheering] god. That's [applause] Merryill Street in August County. This movie, it came out uh right before Christmas and it really I I said

it either makes you feel better about your Family because they're not that bad or you're like that's like my family. [laughter] Yeah. It's uh it must have been so much fun to play that character. It was sort of fun. No. No. I mean, because she's so toxic, she's pretty mean to everybody. But the really wonderful thing about her is that she was incapable of lying. She really only says the truth all the time. Yeah. Uh and sometimes she uses it as a weapon, but sometimes she just says it because nobody else is saying it, and

it's just a gorgeous thing to see. Yeah. And do. So, uh, and you and Julia, Julia was here not too long ago. Y'all are great together. Really great together. Fantastic. And she had to tackle you and throw you to the ground. She tried. Yes. [laughter] Oh, she did. Yeah, she does. She gets me down. Uhhuh. But I'm not out. No. No. No. So, it's it Well, I think I I hope you've seen the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, you have to go see it. And especially before the Oscars, you need to see it.

But tell everyone what it is about. It's a dysfunctional family. Yeah. It's about um kind of a a matriarch, a mother uh who gathers the whole family back at the Oklahoma home um and just kind of takes them all apart. Secrets are revealed. Uh but it's really it was based on a Pulitzer Prizewinning play by Tracy Lutz. It was really funny. I saw it in the theater. It was about three hours. It felt like 45 minutes. Boom. And the film isn't that long. They've cut about an hour out. So, it's um it's sort of a

swifter trip, but it's still funny and scathing. It's just like everybody's had those holiday dinners where you have one person who goes, "And you know what? You know what?" And everybody's going, "Oh, no. He's not gonna he's not gonna one uncle, you know, goes after the other one." And it's kind of that that thing. It's pretty funny. It's only funny afterwards when you're telling it to your friends, right? [laughter] It's I think it's very funny. It is definitely dark, but I it's just to watch the performances and everyone's performance in there, you know, was everyone

across the board was amazing. It was it was great. Um, and you shot in Oklahoma and how was that? It was interesting because, you know, the the play was done by a theater group that had lived together for years, Stephen Wolf, uh, theater group. We didn't know each other, the actors in the film. We all flew in from different coasts and in the middle of the country. So, I thought it would be good if we all lived together in a in a condo village behind the Toyota dealership, which was convenient because, you know, they asked

us what kind of cars we wanted to rent, and I thought, well, I have a Prius, so I thought I didn't want to learn a new dashboard. So, I I said, get me a Prius. And they they couldn't find one. And I didn't know about this. I didn't know they were going to these lengths, you know, to get me. You just asked for Carol taking a Camry, whatever. Focus. I don't know, something small and, you know, cute. [laughter] And they just um they went to all these lengths to get this car. Well, that's hilarious cuz

that happens a lot to celebrities where you ask for something and then you don't know that people are going crazy getting people are being killed to get it for you, right? And you're like, I didn't know. I thought the front, you know, it's right here. Oh man. Anyway, but it was fun. And Oklahoma is a a surprise because so shockingly beautiful. Um, you think of it as it's going to be flat and dry, but it's really varied and u mysterious. Really mysterious. It has all the Native American gestalt, you know, the feeling of it. And

the sky is huge and it's kind of beautiful. Yeah. Spiritually beautiful. Well, you're beautiful. Um, I I really I just I I I can't If you haven't seen the movie, you must go see the movie. And and you're just terrific in everything you do. We're going to put you to test. We're going to come back and I'm going to give you recipes and uh different things to read, but that you're going to be uh you're going to make them more interesting because you can. [laughter] We'll be back. [applause] We are back with the brilliant Merryill

Stre who was up for an Oscar for August Osage County. And uh you really can do anything. I mean, if you look at your roles ac across all the films that you've done, um you're funny, you're sexy, you're dramatic, you're you know, you can you're drunk, you're everything. You're you're not [laughter] boring. You're never boring. So, um I thought I would uh prove it to everyone in case anyone uh questioned me on that. Um this is an oatmeal recipe and I would like you to read [laughter] it, but I would like you to read it

sexy. in a small saucepan. [laughter] Bring two cups of water to a boil. [laughter] Over mediumigh heat, stir in oats. When oatmeal begins to thicken, [cheering] reduce heat and simmer. stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. 30 minutes. [laughter] Faster than at my house. [applause] All right. This is a traffic report, but you're going to read it as a woman in labor. [laughter] Oh my god. That's right. Okay. A track report. Traffic. Okay. But you're in labor. [gasps] Let's take a look at your Tuesday drive. [laughter] Heavy backup. Heavy backup as usual on the [laughter] I10 and

the Oh my god. 710. It's downtown. Okay. Got a jack knife. Big rig in the two lane 101 westbound at Boo. [applause] Oh. Oh, I wouldn't consider getting through there anytime soon. [laughter] [applause] [cheering] One last one. One last one. This is Wikipedia, but you're reading it as an annoyed teenager. You've had one of those. How can I pull that up? The first recorded instance of sandpaper was in the 13th century, mother, [laughter] when crushed shells, seeds, and sand were bonded to parchment using natural gum. Okay. [laughter] [cheering] [applause] Oh, August Oage County is in

theaters now. [applause and cheering] We will be back with Vanessa Hudins. That's Merryill Streep. Everybody, that's what I do. I don't look Oh my god. Oh my god. That's what I do. I was watching going, "Oh, not here. Not now." She brings it when she hits the She really does. She thought the stage was a lot bigger. Yeah, I did. [laughter] Have you ever in performing on stage, have you ever fallen off a stage before? Yeah. First of all, I'm so glad you're okay. And what a graceful way that you recovered. That was really, [laughter]

that was really impressive. I thought she was just really committing to bringing levels to this performance. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just really, really blind. And these are not good enough. Oh, just I [laughter] mean, they are. I need a new prescription. I'm going to carry you out of here. I'm so happy to see all of you. And this movie is uh such an accomplishment. I mean it is it's so impressive and all of you are having now first of all you you two have I know you sing but Emily I didn't know that you

sing. It doesn't mean they're better than me. Well it does. No but but h how how have we never heard you sing? Because I don't I don't like singing in front of people and you know I find it really frightening and so I was reluctant to audition for it but you know thrilled in the end that I did because it was amazing. And I read that John had never heard you sing before this movie. How is that possible? You've never sung in front of your house. He said to me when I was going for the

audition, he said he said, "Sing it for me." And I went, "No." [laughter] As I w he said he's never seen me so nervous. I was this color walking out out of the door. He was like, "Good luck." And I was like, I couldn't speak. And did you sing live? Cuz I was trying to figure out how cuz whether it was live or or if it wasn't live, you were in a studio. Sort of both. the sort of everything little whatever worked. Um the costumes made singing live more challenging. So we did it when we

were sitting still. We did do a pre-record of all the music. Uh but um when we came to shooting it because you know you have to sort of they pipe the orchestra. They had the symphony orchestra and they piped the music in all day. Um and so when we come to the the song you have to uh sort of match to and sing along with yourself. And sometimes it's it's better on the day. So like the witches rap, you know, in the How did you the beginning? I did that live. But the other things, you

know, we would start live and then morph into what we had sung in studio. Who sang first in front of uh who sang first? You did. I did. I did in rehearsals in the very first day on the very first thing. Yes. I had to do it. I think because Rob wanted me to screw up so that everybody [laughter] would feel better. And did you? And they did. No, you didn't screw up though. I did. I mean, I wasn't, you know, it was a process. There's a debate though because uh you you made a mistake

that you had never made before at the table read. And to this day, the cast we I mean, we think you did it on purpose to make us feel better. What did you What did you do when we did the table read? What? [laughter] And we did the table read and there and there was and she was like, "Oh, I forgot I forgot the words." And we were like, "No, you didn't. We've heard you do it a million times. You're just doing that to make us feel better." That's really sweet. I'm sure that's what you

did. Yeah. I'm sure I'm sure that was one of us. Yeah. No, because it's got to be so intimidating. I mean, you're you are brilliant. You are such an amazing human being, number one, first and foremost, and then as an actress. Right. Isn't she great? I mean, she's funny. [cheering] She's smart. Oh, [applause] I mean it. It's very hard to be me. I must be. You can imagine. It must be difficult and to to to be, you know, right. I'm not right all the time. Although I feel like I'm right. Right. [laughter] But that's all

that matters. Sometimes I screw up anyway. It's all that matters is what's in your head. [laughter] And you had Anna, you had a a hit song. So you had Right. the song Cups. Yeah. Right. That was a very impressive video, too. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was a surprise. I mean, I don't know what the hell happened there. But yeah, it sort of meant that I showed up and everyone was like popular. Oh, for heaven's sakes. It was that Well, because when I say things, it appears on on screen. That's what happens. Um, I

we're talking about the movie like everybody knows. I assume everyone does, but they don't. Tell everyone what the movie is about. Shall I start? Into the Woods is an amalgamation of all of the uh most famous fairy tales that you know. And at the beginning of the movie, you meet this couple, the baker and the baker's wife, and they are unable to have children. And you find out that the witch places a curse on their house that uh would make their family tree a barren one. So, in order to reverse the curse, they have to

go into the woods and bring back a slipper as pure as gold. That's how you meet Cinderella. Uh, Cape is red As blood, Little Red Riding Hood, Cow as White as Milkjack and the Beantoalk, and uh, hair as yellow as corn, so it's Rapunzel. So, these two characters sort of lead you into meeting all of the other fairy tale characters. And they all start really messing each other over to get what they want in life. And you work with We have to take a break. We'll talk about the cow, which we have to take a

break because that was the longest pitch. That was really good. I couldn't remember how many things there. I mean, I knew there were four things. I couldn't remember what they were. [laughter] Now I'm beginning to think you really did forget your words. Um, all right, we'll take a break. We'll talk about uh the cow in the movie and uh you being pregnant trying to hide that the whole time, too. All right, we'll be back. So, in that clip we just watched you're singing. You said it's difficult to sing live when you're wear there's a lot

of uh corsets and a lot of cleavage. I love that scene. Emily was on boob watch in that scene. Yeah. Do you see the little bit of shift on there? Yeah. All that extra sort of green. There's a tiny bit in that scene with Emily and Disney got the dailies and they were like, "That's a lot of boob." So, if we could just for the children, too much boob for the children. Now, can we talk about the cow? I love the cow in the movie. I, you know, I like cows anyway. They're amazing. You ever

wor with a cow? I've not worked with I mean, no, I've not worked with one. I've been around a cow. I have. I don't look at me. [laughter] I'm just saying. No, we we were that cow would would when she would get tired, I learned a technique from her because at the end of the day, she'd had it, you know, and she weighed about what, 800 lb. Yeah. And so, whatever actor she would was near, she would just start to go like this [laughter] with all her weight. I mean, it was unbelievable. What did she

do? She Tracy mostly was propping up the Tracy really led the cow through her performance. What kind of uh exercises did you do to warm up? What kind of vocal exercises? Do you do the Do you do that? I did do that. Would my vocal teacher made me do the embarrassing one of gag goo gagi? I was like I can't do that. Like that's awful vocal. He would make me do you still you like she is so British and beautiful. She just she still looks regal doing goooo gaga. Yeah. She's still like intimidating and statuesque

going goooo gaga. [laughter] She didn't buy it, guys. No, I didn't think so at all. I know one that's in from drama school. It was It sounds like you're the sinuses. And if you do that upside down, you go like this, it loosens all the stuff. Horrible. That's not what I was going for at all. That's not what I was trying to [laughter] That doesn't sound like that helps your vocal exercise, is it? It clears up. But it's good if you have a sinus headache. It's good that we know what happened now. [laughter] Well, now

what are you doing? You're on boob. Merryill. [laughter] Oh my goodness. Merryill, leave me alone. Put that in there. All right. All right. Here's I brought my phone out because so this the selfie that we took uh at the Oscar, the whole the whole idea was that I was going to get a selfie with Merryill and then everybody else jumped in and Merryill was barely in the selfie. I know. Bradley Cooper, what a hug. Yeah, him and Lupita Nyongo's brother who jumped in front of Angelina in front of Angelina. Uh, so anyway, so I thought

let's try to do a selfie today with us and then I'm gonna You'll be featured more. Okay. Well, okay. Keep them back. All right. Hold on. Come in, girls. Okay. All right. What? I got it. Okay, fine. I get it. It's perfect. [laughter] [applause] Okay, I'll end that. Okay, I'm gonna take another one. We're going to we're going to take a break and we'll be back after this. All right, so here we go. Uh, we're going to play act it out. No words, all acting. You You will go first. Who's guessing and who's holding? I'm

going to guess. Okay. So, I flip it down when I get it right. Yep. Exactly. All right. [laughter] Walking, marching. Um, riding a horse. Yeah. Um, oh. Uh, cooking, baking, smells, oh, changing a diaper. Uh, DJing. Ballet. Oh, that's beautiful. Oo her chances. You love me. [laughter] Um. Oh. Will you marry me? Getting married. [laughter] Me. Pregnant. Giving birth. [laughter] That's me in that order. Oh. Walking a tightroppe. Oh, you're amazing. Boxing. You're crushing it, by the way. Crushing it. Uh, riding a motorbike. That was your worst. [laughter] Make a pizza. Wow, that was fast.

Skiing. Wow. [cheering] [applause] That is right. We're going to beat them. Come on. Just act it out. I'm guessing. Come on. Are you excited? Uh, shaving. Uh, yes. Oh, boy. Yes. Uh, [laughter] wow. Uh, catwalk. Uh, bo. That's it. You have it. Uh, underwater. Yeah. Swimming. Scuba dive kind of. That's right. [laughter] Uh, jumping jacks. Uh, cheerleader. [laughter] Oh. Oh. Uh. Mime. Oh, yes. [laughter] Are you a sumo wrestler? Yes. Yes. Putting [laughter] Okay. [music] [bell] Uh lipstick, putting on put on my putting on makeup, the whole thing. Yeah. Don't be so discouraged. [laughter] Roller

coaster. [applause] That's it. That's it. Well, we did pretty good. Wait, wait, wait. We did just beat Merryill at an acting contest. Yes, you did. That's what just happened, right? You just beat Mel. Okay. I took her down. Oh, two of my favorite people in the world. Really? You both are. Well, one of ours. Thank you so much. Well, what do you feel uh today? I feel like I'm lucky I've been invited to the couch. No. Oh, no. No. In a good way. I mean, you know, it's all It's all right. All right. We still

love you. I'm I'm in love with you. All right. [laughter] Both of you. Both of you. Hey, I like your shirt. Oh, thank you very much. That's nice. Times up. I Yep. [cheering] They put something over here. You're looking for this? Yes. What is it? It's one for you. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Yours is happier. Thank you. They're both happy. [cheering] [applause] You have one, too. That's fantastic. Did you make those? No, I didn't knit them. They were [laughter] They're a gal, Lingua Franco. She She did them up last night for all of us.

And uh Thank you. Yeah. You're welcome. Hey, how come y'all hadn't worked together before? It's I think it's everyone is so surprised to hear that this is the first time working together on the movie The Post. But you had met before, obviously. Sort of. I mean, we sort of had, but it wasn't really memorable. Well, the I mean, no, no, here's the thing. When you know somebody famous and you think you we know each other cuz we're famous and we've been on TV. I've seen you in movies and I think maybe I did meet. It

was at the It was at It was at the Shakespeare in the Park and you were already seated and Reed and I were walking to our seats and I said something like we've never really met. Is it, "Hey, Merrill, Merryill, hey Merrill." And you said Tom. Yeah. And that was it. You both sound very Italian all of a sudden. Tom. Um, so you so when you first started working together, did you have surprises to learn personality traits? I had the days marked on the calendar of when I would show up to work and uh and

be in a scene with her at the same time. I was really glad to work with you because you're so funny and we're in a serious movie and I knew that that injection of wit and and style and and kind of the getting the joke, you know, every every real story, even the hardest ones have something funny. We Yes, there is. And you brought that. You know who's really funny is her trumpeteers. the guys that enter the room before she does and blow the trumpets all together. Wow. She has she has a copyrighted fanfare for

Merryill. That is a number of notes on Do you know it by any chance? The fanfare for Mel like she has the little drapes that say MS on it. The guys in epilelettes and whatever trying to break my everybody we were on. This is what we would do. We would be in this we a couple of times like when we were in the newsroom scene we would work in the morning. We knew that she was coming in. We were all like dogs in the backyard who all of us were all just [laughter] like dogs hearing

the postmen because all of a sudden a word would come out or someone would see that K. Graham has entered into the newsroom and we would all just straighten up. Yeah. Because it's a movie about a a a room newsrooms used to be all male. Yes. So when you heard that click click click coming down the hall that and if that was the boss that was that was you straighten up and fly right. Hey, can I ask a question? Uh there was a a moment in the Golden Globes the other night where you went to

the bar to get a tray of martinis, which by the way is very impressive. If you ever waited tables, which I have, carrying one martini, much less a tray of martinis, very tricky. Um they need to redesign that glass, but um [laughter] it should it should go in. It should completely curl in to pro to protect it. Anyway, how uh why did you get that job? I was at a table. She was she's on antibiotics cuz she's getting over the flu so she couldn't have one. But I was at a table where somebody who I

love very much. He brought four of them and he brought them under my nose. She I was told to go get martinis. [laughter] And so what I did was coming down through it. Oh, there I am. Yeah. Um that's one of the people who asked for a martini as a matter of fact. Yeah. Steen Spielberg. Yeah, but it was like I was one of those truckers on mountain roads with a load full of nitroglycerin. [laughter] I have never been more nervous carrying something through, delivering it to Steven Spielberg. Sure. And and you were in the

room obviously when Oprah uh our our future president um is uh was um [cheering] [applause] future vice president. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what a speech, huh? What a speech. A barn burner. Yeah. Did you hear what Steedman said? No. So Steman was asked and Steedman said, "Uh, it really is up to the people. She would absolutely do it." That was from Steedman. So I don't think he would say that without permission. You know why? Where do I send the check? You know, I know. while she was speaking uh uh uh out on the patio of

the Hilton Hotel, the pool, the water separated in the [laughter] pool and and some of the staff were walking down along the tile from the deep end and up [laughter] and getting out and it stayed there for a while and then it mushed back in. That's what she does. But she did part the waters there. It was very very important. But you realize you realize how we we thirst for that. We we you know we really want that kind of elevated aspirational can do optimistic you know attachment to the principles of our country caring of

people and and paying attention to who's watching these young girls that are watching and actually knowing that words have power and and you bet. All right, we're going to take a break and uh we'll talk about the movie. We'll be back. [cheering] We're the amazing Mel Street and Tom Hanks. [applause] I didn't want that to be What's that? I was afraid I actually had pissed Merryill off. [laughter] Oh, that is from the post. Tell everybody what the movie is about. Well, it's uh it's about a lot of things, but it's about one week in 1971

that was sort of really important in our history. And it's um uh a time when the Washington Post decided to continue publishing the Pentagon Papers, something that the New York Times had begun. Nixon tried to shut it down. It was the first time that the government had preemptively tried to stop the presses before they wrote a story. And um it was about the week in which a woman ran the newspaper, which was very very unusual in those days. They weren't even allowed to be reporters. our friend Nora Efron, who the the film is dedicated to.

She graduated at the top of her class from a really really great college, went to Newsweek at the time that Katherine Graham owned it and applied for a job as a reporter. And the man looked at her and said, "Well, you can be a secretary, you can be an assistant, but reporters are men. Writers are are men." And that was the way it was. It was not that long ago. I was graduating from college that year. So I remember how different the world was and so it fell to this woman to make the decision and

she happened to have the greatest managing editor of a newspaper, Ben Bradley, and they they had a working partnership that was um sort of a template for the the best of how men and Women can work together. Um there was a there's a moment when honestly most of the people who are in power at the newspaper are telling her do not publish these papers. You will go to jail. You will lose the newspaper. You will be you will be uh uh convicted of treason and it will be ruinous. And there was one guy saying there's

no reason to have a newspaper unless we print this stuff. So you got to publish. You got to publish. Which is what it's amazing how similar kind of what's happening right now with the press being attacked and being called fake news. Yeah. Um and it's it's very I think closely related. Yes, it is their legitimacy taken away and um our film is about standing up and the cost of it and the importance of it. The importance of it. Absolutely. Um I was reminded this morning uh the last time I saw you uh we were at

the White House and we were getting the medal about that getting the medal of freedom and um [applause] and you also have one Well, I mean it's amazing that the three of us have received this amazing the you know award from this amazing man that you know your u what did what did [cheering] your [applause] what did your certificate say on because everybody is like okay so This goes to Ellen Degenerous uh pioneer leader uh entertainer uh social engineer Uh, advocate. Yes. Tuml Street, educator, artist, uh, actress, filmmaker, social advocate, pioneer in the mine said

Tom Hanks, actor. No, it didn't. That was it. [laughter] It's all I got. Not like former former bellboy. Nothing. Nothing was on there. Didn't even list bellboy. Wow. I got actor. That's a shame. All right. Uh, we're going to take a break and I have a little challenge for the two of you. Um, I don't know what it is yet, but I have one. Uh, we'll be back. Uh, we're back with Meryill Streep and Tom Hanks. And, uh, so here's a question because there's been so many films that, uh, both of you have done. Uh,

what is your favorite role that Tom has played in what film? Oh, wow. My favorite one, so Oh, man. No. So many. Oh, no. Right. I mean immediately I thought Sully bridges surprise because his most recent ones but I I really love Charlie Wilson's War and I really love Forest Gum. Okay. [applause] What is your favorite movie and you run the gamut with her because there's something like Devil's Wear Devil Wears Prop [cheering] in which she's bigger than and accurate to life all at the same time. And uh I would go I would go with

Sophie's Choice was something that was lieutenant. That was another one. Out of Africa. Out of Out of Africa. Uh and also when she played the Iron Lady, I thought that was good. How do you do that? Don't know how you do that. But because you're both brilliant actors, thespians, um I would like to challenge you. Uh you mentioned Forest Gump and I have a quote from Forest Gump here that that this will be you if it were you in this role. So you can either play it the way you would have done it or exactly

as he did it. Your choice. Oh wow. And then I am going to give Tom the same challenge. So your choice. Do you want to do it your way or the way he did it? M my mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. That [applause] was excellent. [cheering] That was good. All right. All right. Delaware's Prada. You got to top that. Oh. All right. Uh, I'm just going to I'm just going to take the shot. [clears throat] Take the shot. Oh, get out get out the

guest list. We need to start working on the seating chart. [laughter] Oh, by all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills. [laughter] That is my That's all. [applause] This is Toy Story, so you will wear proper. Oh, [cheering] dear. It just goes on and on. You are [screaming] a toy. You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear. You're a You're an action figure. You are a child play thing. [applause] All right. Oh, just with my eyes closed, that was that was exactly what it is. Yeah, we closed our eyes. All right, this is

All right, Iron Lady. Here we go, man. Oh, that's fantastic. All right, bear with me now. Bear with me now. It's the way he used. This is the real one. That's the one. Roy did a hell job. This is all looking right into the camera. [laughter] With all due respect, sir, I have done battle every single day of my life, and many men have underestimated me before. [laughter] This lot seem bound to do the same. But they will rule the day. [laughter] [applause] [cheering] [applause] All right, we have a break and I have a surprise.

Can I keep this? Yes, you can. And you can keep this. We'll be right back. Thank you very much. We're back with Mel Streep and Tom Hanks. And you know, I don't know if you know this, Merryill, but Tom has been here so many times. He actually was the one who coined the phrase riff wrap room. We have the riff back there right there. Are I don't know. Yeah, there they are. Look at him. So, by all means, don't buy anything at that shop. That just happens to be there. It's It's a coincidence. Exit through.

So, but Tom has his own uh seat here. Um and I felt that that's not right. You should also have your own seat. So, uh, Andy, will you show them this is your You now have your own seat. Oh my god. [cheering] Oh my god, that's so cool. [applause] You have your own seat. All right. Thank you. Yep. [applause] I don't recall where mine yours is. It's She's in front of you. Yours is at If you'll stand up, ma'am, with the Just one back. Just behind her. Yeah. [cheering] Interesting. [applause] So Merryill's seat is in

front of my seat. Yes. So she has a better seat. Yes. But can I just point out that behind every successful woman sits a loudmouth wise cracking guy. [applause] You've got a point who explains everything to her. So what will happen is something will happen and I will lean forward and say uh Ellen just did something that was really really funny and you should enjoy it. Okay. Thanks. That's what that's what y'all would be like in the audience. [laughter] Can you pat your hair down just Thank you guys. I love you both. The Post is

in select cities uh in select theaters now, but opens nationwide this Friday. I want to thank Tom Hanks and Meryill Streep. I'll see you tomorrow. Be kind to one another. Bye.