Becoming Meryl Streep

Thursday, April 28 - Thursday, May 12, 2016

“Becoming Meryl Streep,” a showcase of three of the star’s formative films, takes place consecutive Thursdays, April 28-May 12, at 7:30pm at IFC Center. Presented in conjunction with the publication of Michael Schulman’s acclaimed, deeply researched new biography Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep (Harper), each screening will be introduced by the author, who will sign books at 7pm on April 28, and following the screenings on May 5 & 12.

The program opens April 28 with Michael Cimino’s THE DEER HUNTER (1978), the film for which Streep received her first Oscar nomination—of 19 to date, more than any other performer ever. For the May 5 screening of THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN (1979), Mr. Schulman will moderate a post-film discussion with director Jerry Schatzberg. The series concludes May 12 with a screening of KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979), Streep’s first Oscar-winning performance, followed by a discussion with director, Robert Benton. A complete schedule is below.

After graduating from the Yale Drama School in 1975, Meryl Streep came to New York and soon took the theater world by storm. In her first season, she won attention-getting parts in back-to-back Broadway plays, a Tony nomination, and two roles in Shakespeare in the Park productions. Cast in a quick succession of major American films, she turned in a series of astounding performances that made her a star before the end of the decade. Reviewing KRAMER VS. KRAMER in 1979, the critic Roger Ebert noted, “Meryl Streep has certainly been having quite a year, and has appeared in what seems like half the year’s best female roles (so far she’s been in THE DEER HUNTER, THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN and MANHATTAN, and “Holocaust” on TV).” But the brilliance and pace of those remarkable early performances was far from anomalous; Streep would go on to become one of the most acclaimed and prolific performers the American cinema has ever known—and her career shows no sign of slowing down.

Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep author Michael Schulman is a contributor and arts editor at the New Yorker. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Believer and other publications. He lives in New York City.

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