10. Silkwood (1983) as Karen Silkwood Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Karen Silkwood in Silkwood is a testament to her ability to capture the essence of a complex character. Her Oscar-nominated performance as the labor union activist whose death sparked controversies is both powerful and haunting. Streep’s nuanced portrayal of a woman who is at once likable and infuriating anchors this biopic, turning it into an exploration of the plight of whistleblowers. The film’s ‘scrub down’ showers are among the most harrowing scenes in cinema, showcasing Streep’s capacity to convey terror and vulnerability without resorting to melodrama. This is a rare...
- 11/21/2023
- by Steve Delikson
- TVovermind.com
Maureen Kearney’s story is unbelievable. It is a story of unbelief, in fact — of denial, cover-ups, corruption and injustice directed at a small woman who was just doing her job. She’s played with an electric stillness by the great Isabelle Huppert in Jean-Paul Salome’s Venice Film Festival Horizons title The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste). There are still plenty of people who openly doubt her story, including people on her own side of politics. Perhaps it would be easier all round if it weren’t true.
Kearney was a union officer working within the partly French government-owned energy company Areva, which included a significant nuclear reactor business with projects all over the world. Kearney was no Karen Silkwood; she posed no threat to the concept of nuclear power. She maintains she was targeted when...
Kearney was a union officer working within the partly French government-owned energy company Areva, which included a significant nuclear reactor business with projects all over the world. Kearney was no Karen Silkwood; she posed no threat to the concept of nuclear power. She maintains she was targeted when...
- 9/2/2022
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Costume designer Ann Roth has collaborated with actress Meryl Streep for four decades on films such as “Silkwood,” “Heartburn,” “The Post” and “Julie & Julia,” creating wardrobes that have helped the actor navigate a wide range of roles.
While Streep has been nominated for Academy Awards five times in their 13 films together, Roth notes that the costumes the actor wears do not wear her; it’s the other way around. “I’m just there to help her find the character,” she explains.
Here, Roth reflects on some of those costumes and how they came to be designed.
Silkwood
This was the film that began the pair’s partnership. The movie called for Streep, who stars as whistleblower Karen Silkwood, the real-life nuclear factory worker who witnesses unsafe practices at the plant, to wear denim jackets and cowboy boots with T-shirts — when she wasn’t in her hazmat suit at the factory.
While Streep has been nominated for Academy Awards five times in their 13 films together, Roth notes that the costumes the actor wears do not wear her; it’s the other way around. “I’m just there to help her find the character,” she explains.
Here, Roth reflects on some of those costumes and how they came to be designed.
Silkwood
This was the film that began the pair’s partnership. The movie called for Streep, who stars as whistleblower Karen Silkwood, the real-life nuclear factory worker who witnesses unsafe practices at the plant, to wear denim jackets and cowboy boots with T-shirts — when she wasn’t in her hazmat suit at the factory.
- 6/18/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Read more from Variety’s Directors on Directors, in which filmmakers praise their favorite movies of the year, here.
Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report” tells the story of the Herculean efforts of Daniel J. Jones to make sure that the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture saw the light of day.
Its powerful resonance with “right now” is because it makes us imagine how many thousands of unseen Daniel J. Joneses — mid-range white-collar workers with normal values and decent character — in government are leaving in droves from Justice, State, Fda, Epa, DEA … etc.
Dan Jones is a whistleblower in the tradition of Mark Felt, Karen Silkwood and Jeffrey Wigand; and Scott’s film fully earns its place at the table alongside the iconic pictures of Alan J. Pakula, Sidney Lumet and Mike Nichols, not just because “The Report” is similarly grounded in Washington and government, but because Scott perfectly conveys...
Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report” tells the story of the Herculean efforts of Daniel J. Jones to make sure that the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture saw the light of day.
Its powerful resonance with “right now” is because it makes us imagine how many thousands of unseen Daniel J. Joneses — mid-range white-collar workers with normal values and decent character — in government are leaving in droves from Justice, State, Fda, Epa, DEA … etc.
Dan Jones is a whistleblower in the tradition of Mark Felt, Karen Silkwood and Jeffrey Wigand; and Scott’s film fully earns its place at the table alongside the iconic pictures of Alan J. Pakula, Sidney Lumet and Mike Nichols, not just because “The Report” is similarly grounded in Washington and government, but because Scott perfectly conveys...
- 12/18/2019
- by Michael Mann
- Variety Film + TV
John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#10 —Molly Gilmore, a married woman who, against her better judgment, falls in love with a married man.
John: Falling in Love is my favorite movie. Well, not exactly. I only just watched it for the first time, so I can’t exactly gauge the extent of my affection. But I’ll repeat: Falling in Love is my favorite movie. It’s hard not to fall in love (sorry) with a movie where Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro have an affair in 1983 New York City, aided by best pals Dianne Wiest and Harvey Keitel. After a chance encounter at the beautiful Manhattan bookstore Rizzoli on Christmas Eve, the two meet again months later, care of the blessed Metro North, and eventually have their desires and marriages tested. One could say it’s a Mazursky-inflected Deer Hunter reunion, minus the wit,...
#10 —Molly Gilmore, a married woman who, against her better judgment, falls in love with a married man.
John: Falling in Love is my favorite movie. Well, not exactly. I only just watched it for the first time, so I can’t exactly gauge the extent of my affection. But I’ll repeat: Falling in Love is my favorite movie. It’s hard not to fall in love (sorry) with a movie where Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro have an affair in 1983 New York City, aided by best pals Dianne Wiest and Harvey Keitel. After a chance encounter at the beautiful Manhattan bookstore Rizzoli on Christmas Eve, the two meet again months later, care of the blessed Metro North, and eventually have their desires and marriages tested. One could say it’s a Mazursky-inflected Deer Hunter reunion, minus the wit,...
- 3/8/2018
- by Matthew Eng
- FilmExperience
John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#9 — Karen Silkwood, a real-life chemical technician turned labor union activist and whistleblower.
“Karen Silkwood has come to stand for so many things to so many people that I had to start all over again in trying to play her as a person, not a symbol. I really don't think we can know much about people after they're not there to tell us. All their real, real secrets die with them. At the end of this whole experience of making this movie, I thought about those minutes before Karen's car went off the road, and I missed her.”
— Meryl Streep, 1983
Matthew: Meryl Streep appears in every scene and what feels like nearly every shot of Silkwood, which marked the first but certainly not the last time that the actress would play a real person. Streep’s career was technically...
#9 — Karen Silkwood, a real-life chemical technician turned labor union activist and whistleblower.
“Karen Silkwood has come to stand for so many things to so many people that I had to start all over again in trying to play her as a person, not a symbol. I really don't think we can know much about people after they're not there to tell us. All their real, real secrets die with them. At the end of this whole experience of making this movie, I thought about those minutes before Karen's car went off the road, and I missed her.”
— Meryl Streep, 1983
Matthew: Meryl Streep appears in every scene and what feels like nearly every shot of Silkwood, which marked the first but certainly not the last time that the actress would play a real person. Streep’s career was technically...
- 2/28/2018
- by Matthew Eng
- FilmExperience
Everyone knows that Meryl Streep, a current Best Actress nominee for “The Post,” is the Secretariat of the Oscar nominations race. Her 21 combined lead and supporting actress bids put her nine lengths ahead of runners-up Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson and 11 ahead of legends Bette Davis and Sir Laurence Olivier.
But in a race within a race that has gotten less attention, Streep has an even greater lead: in nominations for roles based on real people. The number is either 10 or 11 depending on whether you agree with the fashion world and me that she plays a thinly-veiled version of Vogue’s Queen of Mean editor Anna Wintour in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Streep, in fact, has more nominations for playing historical figures than any other major actor has even attempted. Hepburn, the most heralded and honored actress before Streep came along, played only a half-dozen real life characters in her long career,...
But in a race within a race that has gotten less attention, Streep has an even greater lead: in nominations for roles based on real people. The number is either 10 or 11 depending on whether you agree with the fashion world and me that she plays a thinly-veiled version of Vogue’s Queen of Mean editor Anna Wintour in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Streep, in fact, has more nominations for playing historical figures than any other major actor has even attempted. Hepburn, the most heralded and honored actress before Streep came along, played only a half-dozen real life characters in her long career,...
- 2/9/2018
- by Jack Mathews
- Gold Derby
This article marks Part 5 of the 21-part Gold Derby series analyzing Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.
In her first eight appearances on the big screen, Meryl Streep portrayed a diverse array of characters, all fictional. In 1983, she at last took on a real-life role, that of the plutonium technician-turned-nuclear safety whistleblower Karen Silkwood in “Silkwood” and was rewarded with an Academy Awards nomination for her efforts.
The project marked Streep’s first of four collaborations with filmmaker Mike Nichols and first of three with screenwriter Nora Ephron.
No one had more riding on the success of “Silkwood” than the picture’s director. After a string of acclaimed box office hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including “Who’s Afraid...
In her first eight appearances on the big screen, Meryl Streep portrayed a diverse array of characters, all fictional. In 1983, she at last took on a real-life role, that of the plutonium technician-turned-nuclear safety whistleblower Karen Silkwood in “Silkwood” and was rewarded with an Academy Awards nomination for her efforts.
The project marked Streep’s first of four collaborations with filmmaker Mike Nichols and first of three with screenwriter Nora Ephron.
No one had more riding on the success of “Silkwood” than the picture’s director. After a string of acclaimed box office hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including “Who’s Afraid...
- 2/2/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
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