department. Originally there was some discussion with Mike Nichols, the director, as to whether that might be `too much.' But this was her life, and that was her stone."
After Karen Silkwood died in 1974, there was a national controversy over the circumstances of her death. She was killed in a single-car accident while driving to meet a reporter for the New York Times. She was expected to hand over some documents revealing serious gaps in the safety measures at a Kerr-McGee nuclear factory in Oklahoma. The documents were not found in her car. Supporters of Silkwood suggest her death was not accidental. The company and an investigating state policeman cite the presence of tranquilizers and alcohol in her bloodstream, and call the death an accident.
I asked Streep if she had an opinion about Karen Silkwood's death.
"Yes."
About whether she was murdered?
"Yes, I have a definite opinion."
Which is?
"But I'm not going to tell you. I think I'd better keep it to myself. There are a lot of legal complications involved with this movie. For example, whenever the movie says that the Kerr-McGee Company did something, it's based on a matter of public record. Otherwise we would have had to change the name of the company, the characters, everything."
One of the surprising things about the movie, I said, is that it seems so real, so convincing, in an unforced way. It records the speech and the energies, the rhythms and humors of Oklahoma working-class life in a way that never seems processed through a Hollywood formula.
Streep said she had a theory about that. "It's the difference between boldface and regular type," she said. "The words are the same, but in boldface they stand out more, and you can see that somebody's making a point of calling your attention to them. A lot of so-called real life in the movies is boldface. The actors are underlining the `reality.' What we were trying to do here was just give the regular body type. In other words, there's nothing especially sensational about the lives these people lead."
In the movie, Streep lives in a sort of shabby, run-down house with some other people, including her boyfriend (played by Kurt Russell) and another friend, played by Cher, who turns out to be a lesbian. One night Cher brings home a girlfriend (Diana Scarwid), and the next morning, Streep and Russell meet her: She's a beautician at the local mortuary.
"Now see, a detail like that, it's so bizarre you might be tempted to leave it out," Streep said. "But people do have jobs like that, and why leave it out? Why not just accept it, along with everything else in life that's unexpected?"
One of the more unexpected things in the movie, I said, was the performance by Cher, which is so good and so natural I had to keep reminding myself that this really was Cher, of Sonny and Cher-although I already know from her performance last year in Robert Altman's Come Back to they and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, that Cher has emerged as a genuine dramatic talent.
"It's surprising, not that she can perform, but that she's as good as she is," Streep said. "Here's a women who's been performing for twenty years. She's intelligent, of course she can act. But she's so wonderful in this role that's nothing like her!"
Was there any initial awkwardness on the set between the two of you?
"On both sides. We had to get used to each other. Accept each other. On my side, I was thinking, Cher! You know, from `I Got You Babe' and all those other records I bought. She, on the other hand, apparently had an image of me as sitting at the right hand of Dame Edith Sitwell. I think she was intimidated by my rep.
"Also, of course, she was conscious of her appearance. She likes to be seen in public with her makeup on. That's very understandable to any woman. Once they took all her makeup away, and made her into the character, there was just all this emotion and truth there. The scene where we sit on the porch swing and hold each other ... by the time we
After Karen Silkwood died in 1974, there was a national controversy over the circumstances of her death. She was killed in a single-car accident while driving to meet a reporter for the New York Times. She was expected to hand over some documents revealing serious gaps in the safety measures at a Kerr-McGee nuclear factory in Oklahoma. The documents were not found in her car. Supporters of Silkwood suggest her death was not accidental. The company and an investigating state policeman cite the presence of tranquilizers and alcohol in her bloodstream, and call the death an accident.
I asked Streep if she had an opinion about Karen Silkwood's death.
"Yes."
About whether she was murdered?
"Yes, I have a definite opinion."
Which is?
"But I'm not going to tell you. I think I'd better keep it to myself. There are a lot of legal complications involved with this movie. For example, whenever the movie says that the Kerr-McGee Company did something, it's based on a matter of public record. Otherwise we would have had to change the name of the company, the characters, everything."
One of the surprising things about the movie, I said, is that it seems so real, so convincing, in an unforced way. It records the speech and the energies, the rhythms and humors of Oklahoma working-class life in a way that never seems processed through a Hollywood formula.
Streep said she had a theory about that. "It's the difference between boldface and regular type," she said. "The words are the same, but in boldface they stand out more, and you can see that somebody's making a point of calling your attention to them. A lot of so-called real life in the movies is boldface. The actors are underlining the `reality.' What we were trying to do here was just give the regular body type. In other words, there's nothing especially sensational about the lives these people lead."
In the movie, Streep lives in a sort of shabby, run-down house with some other people, including her boyfriend (played by Kurt Russell) and another friend, played by Cher, who turns out to be a lesbian. One night Cher brings home a girlfriend (Diana Scarwid), and the next morning, Streep and Russell meet her: She's a beautician at the local mortuary.
"Now see, a detail like that, it's so bizarre you might be tempted to leave it out," Streep said. "But people do have jobs like that, and why leave it out? Why not just accept it, along with everything else in life that's unexpected?"
One of the more unexpected things in the movie, I said, was the performance by Cher, which is so good and so natural I had to keep reminding myself that this really was Cher, of Sonny and Cher-although I already know from her performance last year in Robert Altman's Come Back to they and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, that Cher has emerged as a genuine dramatic talent.
"It's surprising, not that she can perform, but that she's as good as she is," Streep said. "Here's a women who's been performing for twenty years. She's intelligent, of course she can act. But she's so wonderful in this role that's nothing like her!"
Was there any initial awkwardness on the set between the two of you?
"On both sides. We had to get used to each other. Accept each other. On my side, I was thinking, Cher! You know, from `I Got You Babe' and all those other records I bought. She, on the other hand, apparently had an image of me as sitting at the right hand of Dame Edith Sitwell. I think she was intimidated by my rep.
"Also, of course, she was conscious of her appearance. She likes to be seen in public with her makeup on. That's very understandable to any woman. Once they took all her makeup away, and made her into the character, there was just all this emotion and truth there. The scene where we sit on the porch swing and hold each other ... by the time we
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