I have to try really really really really hard. I mean that could be my epitaph: She tried really hard.
我一定要非常非常非常地用功。我是说，这句话可以作为我的墓志铭：她一生都在拼搏。
—Meryl Streep (梅丽尔?斯特里普)
In the flesh1), she does not have an aura. She’s not lit from within. Heads do not snap2) in her direction when she walks through a hotel lobby in a baggy maxi-dress and brown calf-high boots, flanked by her dutiful makeup artist of 36 years and her imperious3) publicist—the few celebrity trappings4) of a woman who stubbornly considers herself a working actor, and nothing more.
And yet for half of her 63 years she has been dubbed either the Greatest Film Actress of Her Generation or, now, the Greatest Living Film Actress.
So how does Meryl Streep, working actor, advance her artistry when she has nothing left to prove, when everything she does seems beyond reproach?
In a room off the lobby of the W hotel, she removes her glasses and hair clip and tosses both on a table. She is beautiful—as she has always been—in the remote, masky way a sculpture by Michelangelo is beautiful. Her presence in person feels like the absence of a character. And for this question, she must play the Greatest Living Film Actress.
“I feel more worried because, you know, the expectations are so high,” she says, brushing out her blond-white hair into a mane5). “I do work very hard. I think I’ve always been that type of girl, from the very beginning. I’m the oldest, and I feel like I have to do a good job. I have to try really really really really hard. I mean that could be my epitaph6): She tried really hard.”
She looks down, eyes glazing over, as if seeing her gravestone.
“She tried,” she repeats softly, shrugging, then releasing a husky giggle. “You know?”
Deep into it
We know, Meryl.
The mastery of foreign accents, the exhaustive7) preparation and pinpoint8) technique, the 17 Oscar nominations from 47 feature films over 36 years. You tried. And succeeded.
There never wasn’t praise. Praise since a professor at Vassar called her acting “mind-boggling9),” praise since her drama school days at Yale, where she gave herself an ulcer10) playing 40 stage roles in three years. Praise in 1975 when she first got to New York, where Joseph Papp11) called her the most remarkable actress who’d ever come through his Public Theater.
Forget crying on cue12). She was able to blush on cue, Papp said.
“She’s going to be the Eleanor Roosevelt13) of acting,” said Dustin Hoffman, her Kramer vs. Kramer co-star, in a 1980 Newsweek cover story that proclaimed her “A Star for the ’80s.” Critics in that era placed her at the vanguard14) of “the new American actor”—trained within an inch of her life15) in multiple genres and therefore confident and nimble16) enough to explore wildly. To try. She tried in Sophie’s Choice and entered the pantheon at 33. The trying—the precision bordering on mimicry17)—was a turnoff18) for some.
“She has, as usual, put thought and effort into her work,” wrote New Yorker critic Pauline Kael in her review of Sophie’s Choice. “It could be said that in her zeal to be an honest actress she allows nothing to escape her conception of a performance. Instead of trying to achieve freedom in front of the camera, she’s predetermining what it records.”
Nitpick19).
She tried working-class (Silkwood). She tried epic (Out of Africa), comedy (Death Becomes Her) and action (The River Wild). She tried and sometimes fell short of perfection, but even her flubs20) are gold, according to Clint Eastwood21), who directed her in The Bridges of Madison County in 1995.
“When I showed her a rough cut of the film, she said, ‘You’ve printed all my mistakes!’?” Eastwood says. “And I said, ‘Yeah, and they’re so good.’?”
The source of this unassailable ability remains a mystery, even to her, says cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, who shot Julie & Julia, in which Streep channeled Julia Child, and the telepic Angels in America, in which Streep played four roles, including the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg.
“I remember Mike Nichols22) asking her, ‘Why did you do this or that?’ in the scene where Ethel’s with Roy Cohn as he’s dying,” Goldblatt says. “And she said, ‘.?.?. I don’t know.’ And I really think that’s the essence. She’s so deep into it that she’s not having a conscious conversation as an artist, as an actor, with herself. It’s that good. It’s not even skill or artifice. It’s complete subjection to the character. She is no longer Meryl Streep.”
Desire to do well
And yet she’s Meryl Streep here, in this room off the W’s lobby, hours before appearing at a gala23) for the National Women’s History Museum.
There is nothing to say about her handshake, her mood, her carriage. She has no smell. Her eyes, obscured by modish rectangular glasses, seem dark and colorless—until she begins to recite a verse by 8th-century poet Wang Wei to prove a point about an artist’s individual voice.
“I seem to be alone on the empty mountain24),” Streep says in her silvery contralto25), shifting her posture as if bracing for a blast of high-altitude air.
She pauses.
For an almost uncomfortable period of time.
“Yet suddenly I hear a voice ...”
Another long pause.
Her eyes search the air. They are slate blue, sparkling. “Is it sunshine entering a forest grove, shining back at me from the green moss?”
And scene.
We get it now. The moss. Or, rather, the sunshine off it. That’s the mystical place where the Streepness originates. Now, it shines on what she calls “big, terrifying” roles that make her nervous and therefore challenge her impeccable instrument. Her most recent mark is Margaret Thatcher, whom she plays in the The Iron Lady.
“For a girl from Jersey to walk into an English soundstage with 40 of the best English actors and presume to be their first woman prime minister, it’s just like, ‘Oh my God, who do you think you are?’?” Streep says. “It really does raise the stakes26) and makes the adrenaline flow.”
Her characters, she says, help her understand little things about herself, and she will continue to pick projects that fill in her own paint-by-numbers27) portrait. How does she dovetail with Thatcher?
“Terrifyingly close,” she says, cackling. “That dutifulness, that relentlessness28), that desire to do well, do right. To act according to your convictions. To try, try, try. Keep trying, keep trying. Don’t let the bastards get you. Don’t let them say you’re too old.”
Old seems to work for Meryl. In the past few years, she has eased into her emerita29)-ness, turned each acceptance speech into a master class of diva30) comportment31), relished32) roles in exuberant33)-if-commercial projects—and her box office receipts have started matching the volume of her critical praise. A string of movies made more than $100 million: The Devil Wears Prada, in which she nibbled scenery as an ice-queen fashion editor, Mamma Mia!, in which she belted34) Abba35) songs in the Greek Isles, and It’s Complicated, in which she bedded Alec Baldwin36) between 1,500-thread-count37) sheets.
Those dollars, she says, are the only reason she’s still employed. Simple as that.
“My generation of actresses—my friends, my cohort—should be working at the same level of endeavor as I am, and they’re not,” Streep says. “Why? Because to businessmen, they’re old. And that bugs me. That’s wrong. Because the audience is there.”
Earlier in the week, she was in London for a tribute to Vanessa Redgrave38), whom Streep calls “the pinnacle.” The film reel included a lengthy dinner scene from Julia, Streep’s first movie role.
“First of all, you’d never see a scene like that in a movie now,” Streep says. “The idea that a camera and the audience would be interested to just sit at a table for nine minutes and experience the tension that was going on in the scene ... Jesus. What is happening to this thing we love? Film! It’s so powerful.” And she leans back in her chair, exhales39) and extends her arms in some strange supplication to her chosen medium, as if she has opened herself up as a sounding board40), an instrument to be played by the universe, a lute suspended—absorbing and projecting, at this moment, a rich vibe41) of weary gratitude.
“Ask a woman”
Between the hotel and the Ronald Reagan Building, she does not make a costume change. She appears onstage in the same baggy dress, with the same casual hair. She trumpets the idea of a National Women’s History Museum, ably performing her prepared remarks and then, in closing, decides to try something.
“As Margaret Thatcher would say—?” and without warning she drops her voice a half-tone, upholsters42) her throat with a bristly British accent, cocks her head to suggest a hairdo and blazer and strand of pearls that aren’t actually there, and the air in the theater suddenly turns chilly and electric, like a seance43) is afoot, and behind the rostrum now is a fully-formed life force radiating energy:
“?‘If you want something spoken about, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.’?”
The audience gasps at the quick-change and roars with approval, and then Streep snaps out of it, and Thatcher is gone, and so is she, replaced by applause.
单从自身条件来讲，她并沒有耀眼的光环。她的光芒也并非来自内在的涵养。当她穿着宽大的长裙和棕色的及膝皮靴从酒店大厅走过时，众人并沒有齐刷刷地转头向她行注目礼。陪在她身边的，一个是她恪尽职守的化妆师(已为她工作36年)，一个是她一脸傲气的发言人——这是她作为名人仅有的一点点缀，她总是很固执地认为自己只是一个职业演员，别的什么都不是。
然而，在她63岁的人生历程中，有一半的时间人们称她为“同代人中的最佳女电影演员”，或者，正如现在人们对她的称呼那样，“当代最佳女电影演员”。
那么，梅丽尔?斯特里普，一个仅仅把演艺看做是一种职业的人，在事业达到巅峰之后，在一切都完美得似乎无可挑剔之后，又将如何提升自己的艺术造诣呢？
在W酒店大厅临近的一个房间里，她摘下了墨镜和发夹，随手把它们扔到一张桌子上。和往常一样，她还是那么美——那是一种像米开朗基罗雕像一样遥远而模糊的美。但单从她自身的姿态来看，总让人觉得好像少了点“大牌”的气派。要想看到这种气派，必须得是她扮演“当代最佳女电影演员”的时候。
“我感到压力越来越大，要知道，人们的期望太高了，”她一边说，一边梳理着浅淡的金发，使其自然下垂，“我的确很勤奋。我觉得我一直都是非常勤奋的人，从一开始就是。我是年纪最大的，我觉得自己一定要把事情做好。我一定要非常非常非常地用功。我是说，这句话可以作为我的墓志铭：她一生都在拼搏。”
她视线下移，目光凝滞，仿若在看着自己的墓碑一样。
“拼搏，”她轻声地重复着，耸了耸肩，然后沙哑着声音咯咯笑了起来，“你们知道吗？”
爱拼才会赢
我们知道的，梅丽尔。
惟妙惟肖的外国口音，巨细无遗的场外准备，准确到位的表演技巧，36年来出演的47部故事片中有17部获得奥斯卡提名。你打拼过。也成功了。
她从来都不缺少赞美。自从瓦萨尔学院的教授称她的表演“令人难以置信”，自从她在耶鲁戏剧学院学习、三年里演出了40个舞台角色结果累出了溃疡，自从她1975年首次来到纽约、被约瑟夫?帕普称为在他的公共剧院演出过的最优秀的女演员，人们对她的赞美之辞就从未停息。
且不说需要她哭时她马上就能哭出来，据帕普说，需要她脸红时她也能立刻脸红起来。
“她总有一天会成为演艺界的第一夫人。”达斯汀?霍夫曼说。霍夫曼是影片《克莱默夫妇》中和她搭档的男主角，他在1980年《新闻周刊》的一篇封面文章中这样评价她，那篇封面文章称梅丽尔为“80年代的明星”。那个时代的批评家认为她是“新一代美国电影演员”的先锋——她几乎玩命似的接受各种表演风格的训练，因此才能充满自信、游刃有余地在演艺世界中随心所欲地探索，才能放手一搏。
她在影片《苏菲的选择》中拼搏过，33岁时就进入了演艺界的“万神殿”。那种拼搏——那种惟妙惟肖的模仿——令不少人望而却步。 “在表演中，她一直都有自己的想法，也很能吃苦，”《纽约客》评论员波琳?凯尔在评论《苏菲的选择》时这样写道，“可以这样说，她热切希望自己成为一名忠于职守的演员，一旦她对某个表演有了自己的构想，她决不允许遗漏任何细节。在镜头面前，她想的不是如何表现自然，而是事先想好要让镜头记录下什么。”
她对每一个细节都到了吹毛求疵的地步。
她演过工人阶层 (《丝克伍事件》)，演过史诗般的影片(《走出非洲》)，还演过喜剧(《飞越生长》)和动作片(《狂野之河》)。她尝试过各种角色，有时也会有不尽完美之处。但在克林特?伊斯特伍德看来，即使她偶有失误，也错得精彩。伊斯特伍德曾在1995年指导她饰演《廊桥遗梦》中的角色。
“当我将经过粗略剪辑的片子播放给她看时，她说：‘你把我所有的失误都保留下来了！’”伊斯特伍德说。“我回答说：‘是的，这些失误都很棒。’”
电影摄影师斯蒂芬?戈德布拉特曾评价说，这种无懈可击的表演能力源自何处至今仍是一个不解之谜，即使梅丽尔本人也无法说清。戈德布拉特是《朱莉与朱莉娅》的摄像，在该片中斯特里普饰演朱莉娅?查尔德；戈德布拉特同时也是电影电视剧《天使在美国》的摄像，在该剧中斯特里普饰演了四个角色，包括伊瑟尔?罗森伯格的鬼魂。
戈德布拉特说：“我记得迈克?尼科尔斯曾问过梅丽尔，在罗伊?科恩临死时与伊瑟尔在一起的那个场景中，‘你为什么要这样或者那样做？’她说：‘……我不知道。’但我确信这就是梅丽尔成功的诀窍。她已深深地融入剧情，已经无法和作为艺术家和演员的自己进行清醒的对话。这真是棒极了。这甚至已经不是演技或者表演的问题，而是完全服从于角色。她已不再是梅丽尔?斯特里普。”
精益求精
然而，此时此刻，在W酒店大厅附近的一个房间里，在她即将出席美国女子历史博物馆的欢庆晚会前的几个小时里，她还是梅丽尔?斯特里普。
她握手的姿态、情绪的表现，还有一举一动都沒有特别之处，也沒有特别的气息。在时髦的直框眼镜遮挡下，她的眼睛显得幽暗、淡然。然而，当她开始背诵公元8世纪诗人王维的一首诗时，就像完全变了一个人。她背诵这首诗，是为了佐证她关于艺术家要有自己独特声音的观点。
“空山不见人。”斯特里普以她那银铃般的女低音吟诵道，同时变换了一下姿势，仿佛要去拥抱高山上吹来的风。
她停顿了片刻。
这片刻的时间几乎令人觉得尴尬。
“但闻人语响……”
又是长时间的停顿。
她的目光向半空中搜索着什么。青蓝色的眼睛闪烁着光芒。
“返景入深林，复照青苔上。”
景象毕现！
现在我们明白了。是青苔！或者，确切地说，是青苔反射的阳光。这正是斯特里普独特风格的神秘来源。现在，这阳光又照射到她称之为“令人惶恐的大角色”之上。这种角色让她紧张，因而对她那无懈可击的演技也是一种挑战。她最近饰演的角色是影片《铁娘子》中的玛格丽特?撒切尔。
“对于一个来自(新)泽西州的女孩来说，和40位最优秀的英国演员一起走进英国摄影棚，还要假设是他们的第一位女首相，这真有点像‘哎呀天呐，你觉得你是谁啊？’”斯特里普说，“这个赌注下得也确实有点大了，让人肾上腺素猛增，太刺激了。”
她说，她饰演的角色可以帮助她了解自己性格中细微的东西，她也会像玩数字填图那样，一如既往地选择那些完全符合她本人形象的项目。那么，她是如何与撒切尔的形象相契合的呢？
“真是惊人的相似，”她咯咯笑着说，“那种责任感，那种拼命三郎的精神，那种一心想把事情做好、做对的劲头。只管按照自己的信念而行事。努力，努力，再努力。不停地尝试，不停地打拼。不要让那些坏蛋抓住你。不要让他们说你太老了。”
上了年纪的梅丽尔似乎老当益壮。在过去的几年时间里，她已逐渐做好了光荣隐退的准备，把每次的获奖感言都变成了天后仪态的大师级教程，喜欢在热情火爆的商业片中饰演角色——她的票房收入已开始与她赢得的评论界的赞誉成正比。有好几部电影的票房都超过了一亿美元，这其中包括：《穿普拉达的女王》，片中她夸张地饰演了一位时尚杂志主编，也是一个冷冰冰的女魔头；《妈妈咪呀》，片中她在希腊群岛上高唱阿巴乐队的歌曲；还有《爱很复杂》，片中她盖着1500针的豪华被单与亚历克?鲍德温同床共枕。
她说，这些票房就是仍然还有人愿意用她的唯一理由。就是这么简单。
“我这一代女演员——我的朋友和同辈——本应像我现在这样勤奋地工作着，但她们却沒有，”斯特里普说，“为什么呢？因为对那些生意人来说，她们都老了。这让我觉得很不舒服。这显然是错误的，因为她们的观众都还在。”
本周早些时候(编注：指2011年12月的第一周)，她去伦敦参加了向瓦妮莎?雷德格瑞夫献礼的活动，斯特里普称瓦妮莎为“顶峰”。影带中包含了《朱莉娅》中的一段长时间的就餐场景，这是斯特里普饰演第一个电影角色的影片。
“首先，在现在的电影中，你再也看不到这样的场景了，”斯特里普说，“其背后的理念是摄像和观众都有兴趣坐在餐桌旁长达九分钟来体验剧情中上演的那种紧张感??天呐。我们所钟爱的这种东西到底怎么了？我是说电影！它是那么强大。”
她身体后仰靠在椅子上，长呼一口气，张开双臂，似乎在为她所选定的电影媒体进行某种奇怪的祈祷。此时此刻，她仿佛已完全敞开了自己，变成了一块共鸣板，一件将由宇宙弹奏的乐器，一把悬挂起来的鲁特琴——正为迸发而积聚力量，虽然疲惫不堪，却充满感激。
“让女人去做”
在从酒店去罗纳德?里根大厦时，她沒有换服装。出现在讲台上时，她依旧穿着那件宽松的长裙，梳着同样休闲的发型。她先是祝贺国家女子历史博物馆成立，然后根据事先准备的讲稿做了精彩的演讲。最后，她决定要来点什么。
“正如玛格丽特?撒切尔喜欢说的那样——”她突然毫无征兆地将声音降了半调，话语中是一种尖锐的英国口音，头部微微侧向一边，仿佛在向人们展示一个撒切尔的形象：独特的发型、轻便的上衣，还有一串珍珠项链——而事实上这些东西都不存在。剧场里的空气似乎突然凝固了，变得紧张异常，好像招魂仪式上神灵突然降临一样。此刻，站在讲台上的是一个神采奕奕、全身散发着生命活力的铁娘子： “‘你要想谈论一件事，就让男人去做。你要想成就一件事，就让女人去做。’”
面对这突如其来的变化，人们惊呆了，但随即爆发出一阵赞叹喝彩之声。斯特里普恢复了常态，撒切尔不见了，之后，梅丽尔也走下讲台，只留下阵阵经久不衰的掌声。
1. in the flesh：本人，亲自
2. snap [sn?p] vi. 敏捷地动作，迅速地行动
3. imperious [?m?p??ri?s] adj. 专横的，傲慢的
4. trapping [tr?p??] n. 装饰物，附属品
5. mane [me?n] n. (人的)长头发
6. epitaph [?ep?tɑ?f] n. 墓志铭，碑文
7. exhaustive [?ɡ?z??st?v] adj. 无遗漏的，彻底的
8. pinpoint [?p?n?p??nt] adj. 精确的，细微的
9. mind-boggling：令人难以置信的，十分惊人的
10. ulcer [??ls?] n. 溃疡
11. Joseph Papp：约瑟夫?帕普(1921～1991)，美国戏剧制片人、导演。下文中提到的Public Theater即由他创立。
12. on cue：恰好在这个时候
13. Eleanor Roosevelt：埃莉诺?罗斯福(1884～1962)，美国第32任总统富兰克林?德拉诺?罗斯福的妻子。第二次世界大战后，她出任美国首任驻联合国大使，主导起草了联合国的《世界人权宣言》。
14. vanguard [?v?nɡɑ?(r)d] n. 前锋，先锋
15. within an inch of one’s life：(相当于very close to losing one’s life)几乎丧命地
16. nimble [?n?mb(?)l] adj. 轻巧的，敏捷的
17. mimicry [?m?m?kri] n. 模仿
18. turnoff [t??(r)n?f] n. 放弃，停止，中断
19. nitpick [?n?t?p?k] vi. 找茬儿，吹毛求疵
20. flub [fl?b] n. 失误，失策
21. Clint Eastwood：克林特?伊斯特伍德(1930～)，美国演员、电影导演与电影制片人
22. Mike Nichols：迈克?尼科尔斯(1931～)，德裔美国人，电影导演、作家、制片人和喜剧演员。他于1987年凭借影片《毕业生》(The Graduate)获得奥斯卡最佳导演奖。
23. gala [?ɡɑ?l?] n. 节日庆祝活动
24. 这首诗名为《鹿柴》，是王维五言绝句组诗《辋川集》二十首中的第四首，也是他的山水诗代表作之一，是他隐居辋川时的作品。这首诗描绘了鹿柴附近的空山深林在傍晚时分的幽静景色，充满了绘画的境界。
25. contralto [k?n?trɑ?lt??] n. 女低音
26. raise the stakes：增加重要性(或危险性)
27. paint-by-numbers：一种数字填图游戏
28. relentlessness [r??lentl?sn?s] n. 不松懈，不屈挠
29. emerita [??mer?t?] adj. (妇女)荣誉退休的
30. diva [?di?v?] n. 歌剧中的女主角；令人钦佩的女性
31. comportment [k?m?p??tm?nt] n. 举止，态度，动作
32. relish [?rel??] vt. 从……中得到乐趣，喜爱，喜好
33. exuberant [?ɡ?zju?b?r?nt] adj. 生气勃勃的，兴高采烈的
34. belt [belt] vt. [俚]大声而有力地歌唱
35. Abba：阿巴乐队，瑞典的流行音乐组合，成立于1973年。乐队名称来自于四名成员姓名首字母的组合。该乐队于1982年解散。
36. Alec Baldwin：亚历克?鲍德温(1958～)，美国著名演员
37. 1,500-thread-count：1500针。Thread count意为“针数”，在本文中表示床单每平方英寸的针数。针数越高，表示床单质地越好，越持久耐用。
38. Vanessa Redgrave：瓦妮莎?雷德格瑞夫，演员、配音、制片人，出身于演艺世家，曾获戛纳电影节最佳女主角和奥斯卡女配角的殊荣。
39. exhale [eks?he?l] vi. 呼气
40. sounding board：共鸣板，宣传者
41. vibe [va?b] n.〈口〉(感情上的)感应，共鸣
42. upholster [?p?h??lst?(r)] vt. 装饰
43. seance [?se??ns] n. 降神会