Meryl Streep’s Top 10 unapologetic bitches
By Ben Kelly
We got super excited at the tiny glimpse of Meryl Streep in the upcoming movie Suffragette, and seeing her play such a legendary lady made us think of all the unapologetic bitches she’s played over the years. Well, that and it was just a regular morning in the Attitude office, and we don’t need much encouragement…
10. Sarah/Anna in The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Meryl plays not one, but two fierce ladies in the adaptation of this classic novel. In one sequence she’s a Victorian lieutenant’s wife, dressed as the woman from the Scottish Widows advert, getting it on with Jeremy Irons, and in the other narrative they’re two modern day actors, playing the other story and also having an affair – get it? Unapologetic points here for all those steely gazes.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTO1wDxAAxc[/youtube]
9. Karen Silkwood in Silkwood
In this 80s hit, Meryl plays a real-life labour union activist who died in a suspicious car accident while investigating dodgy business at the nuclear plant where she worked. For added ‘I’m a tough bitch’ realness, she’s going through drama with her ex-husband, and marvelously, Cher stars as her lesbian co-worker. Imagine Erin Brockovich meets Edward Snowden. Meets Cher.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNyrSR5JGh8[/youtube]
8. Jill in Manhattan
An early, lesser known part from Meryl, but she’s great here as Woody Allen’s lesbian ex-girlfriend who’s writing a tell-all memoir about her time with him. She just doesn’t give a shit. Is it convincing that a young Meryl would ever have dated Woody Allen? Probably not, but then there’s quite a lot about Allen’s love life that’s fairly unbelievable.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7TuFo_Y0ys[/youtube]
7. The Witch in Into The Woods
Meryl was the undeniable centre piece of last year’s Disney musical adaptation, which saw her demanding her neighbours’ first born just because they took some veg from her garden. Do not mess with this bitch! She also sent several strangers on a wild goose chase for ingredients to make her youthful again – a feat Madge herself would be proud of. Check her out belting Last Midnight below.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aasECsxrSzQ[/youtube]
6. Emmeline Pankhurst in Suffragette
OK so it hasn’t been released yet, but the teaser trailer was enough for us to include this, as Meryl plays the British icon who championed equality for women. Pankhurst was imprisoned for her civil disobedience over votes for women, and when prison officials tried to enter her cell to force feed her, she threatened to hit them with a clay jug. Iconic. Suffragette will be along in October. Meryl only utters seven words in the trailer and we’re already gunning for her to get an Oscar.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MONqsKlGgLk[/youtube]
5. Violet Weston in August: Osage County
A traditional matriach, off her face on booze and pills, with poisonous comments for anyone who passes her way, who is also battling cancer. What’s not to admire? Quite like Into The Woods, Meryl was the best thing about August: Osage County, and that’s in a cast that includes Julia Roberts and Benedict Cumberbatch.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKCjVphAfgY[/youtube]
4. Madeleine Ashton in Death Becomes Her
One of our favourite Meryl comedies (yes, she’s not all doom and gloom), this has the added bonus of being a face-off between two unapologetic bitches; a lifetime rivalry; like Dynasty with shit early 90s CGI. Here’s an incredible clip where she blows a hole through Goldie Hawn with a shotgun.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_A6gdlNh00[/youtube]
3. Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt
Here, Meryl played a fierce nun in The Bronx trying to snuff out a dodgy priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who may have more in common with Jimmy Savile than just a full head of white hair. Her outfit isn’t the best in this one – it’s a pilgrim-esque habit – but unlike Silkwood, at least in this one her nosey ways don’t get her killed at the end.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS8tqsjySaI[/youtube]
2. Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady
We can’t get on board with all the bits about destroying the lives of miners, trying to get Scotland shut down, or the bit where she takes candy from a baby (maybe that’s in the director’s cut), but we can all certainly enjoy this scene, where she rips a new one for her entire cabinet because the wording in Geoffrey Howe’s briefing notes is sloppy. Bet she does a great Gordon Brown and all.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnwG9lTd4-M[/youtube]
1. Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada
What can we say? There was never any contest that Streep’s thinly-veiled portrayal of Anna Wintour was going to top this chart. Dressed in fabulous clothes, with the world of fashion at her feet, she spits put downs that would make your soul wither, dismisses entire collections with a mere frown, and most importantly, she makes Anne Hathaway look even sadder than she did in Les Miserables. And for anyone who was in any doubt: yes, Attitude HQ is just as bitchy as the Runway offices. “That’s all”.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJnRkyCnVw[/youtube]