Meryl Streep is among some of the highly acclaimed and celebrated stars in Hollywood. With a career spanning decades, she has made a name for herself and garnered a huge following all around the world. She gave a remarkable performance in the 1978 film, The Deer Hunter and earned the nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. Followed by the 1978 film, she starred in the 1979 classic film Kramer vs. Kramer.
At the time the film was also surrounded by a controversy about Hoffman harassing the Mamma Mia star. Years after the release of the film, Streep finally addressed the controversy during her interview with the New York Times.
Meryl Streep Talks About the Kramer vs. Kramer Controversy
The 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer follows a divorced couple as they seek custody of their son and its effects on their young son. Meryl Streep starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in the film and won her first Oscar for Best Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer. The film was a critical and commercial success and bagged five Oscars at the 1979 Academy Awards.
At the time of its release, some reports also claimed that Hoffman had slapped his co-star and that the two did not get along very well. During her interview with the New York Times, Streep addressed the reports as she called her co-star’s actions “overstepping.”
She shared, “This is tricky because when you’re an actor, you’re in a scene, you have to feel free.” The Don’t Look Up actress admitted that sometimes she might have also unknowingly hurt people during a physical scene. However, she claimed that it was the first take of her “first movie,” and her co-star “just slapped [her].”
“And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping,” she further said. The Tootsie actor reportedly claimed that he wanted a more authentic performance from Streep, who was still a relatively unknown actress at the time. However, that is certainly not the way to do so. Producer Stanley Jaffe shared that the three times Oscar winner was furious at Hoffman’s actions.
Meryl Streep Had a Hard Time on Kramer vs. Kramer
Michael Schulman’s book Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep revealed the actress’ struggles from behind the scenes of the 1979 film. The book describes that the producers of the film were already impressed with Streep’s grasp of Joanna’s character in the movie.
Despite that, her co-star Dustin Hoffman was adamant about using his intense ‘method acting’ tactics to make everything even more authentic. The book also describes how the Rain Man actor slapped Streep “hard across the cheek.” However, The Post star continued her work. But Hoffman’s tactics were far from over.
He started making comments about her late boyfriend, John Cazale, who passed away in 1978. Producer Richard Fischoff claimed that Hoffman was “goading her and provoking her” based on the information he had about the Little Women actress.
Kramer vs. Kramer is available on Apple TV.
Source: New York Times
