![\"Meryl](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Meryl-Streep-2016-Actress-Tokyo-International-Film-Festival-Dick-Thomas-Johnson-Far-Out-Magazine-114.jpeg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Dick Thomas Johnson)<\/p>\n
Tue 16 September 2025 20:15, UK <\/p>\n
Meryl Streep<\/a> is commonly cited as one of the few actors still living who possesses enough range as a department store and enough Academy Award nominations to make her the most-nominated actor in Oscars history.<\/p>\n Yet, despite her star status as the reigning queen of Hollywood (who else could do The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! in such close succession?) Streep has also had her fair share of acting isn\u2019t easy moments with oftentimes roles that demand a lot of her, whether it be drastically changing her appearance or speaking an entirely different accent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Accents come easy to some, like Gary Oldman, who seems to slip into them as though they\u2019re old slippers, while Christian Bale is scarily good at being American, despite being incredibly British. Streep is also great at accents, and you\u2019d never think that she would have ever struggled with trying on a new voice, considering that she\u2019s even won an Oscar for playing the former British Prime Minister and unemployment puppetmaster Margaret Thatcher, but she was once on the verge of having to resort to lip-syncing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Back when Streep was still in the early years of her career (several Oscar nominations already secured), she was cast in the British film The French Lieutenant\u2019s Woman. Directed by the legendary Karel Reisz and based on the 1969 novel by John Fowles, the movie would see her embody several characters alongside Jeremy Irons, but she was required to perform with an English accent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Streep had only made her screen debut four years prior, so really, she was still getting to grips with being a professional actor. Things that would later become second nature to her made her anxious, expressed as her fear that she was going to completely mess up. After all, not only was the film based on a fantastic book written by a man posited on the precipice of modernism and postmodernism, but it also had the legendary playwright Harold Pinter<\/a> behind the screenplay. The pressure was on.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so frightened, I\u2019m so frightened about something as important as this,\u201d she reportedly told a friend. Even Reisz started to get a little concerned that the actor wasn\u2019t going to be able to deliver a good enough accent (which is baffling to consider when you think about her legacy as a versatile screen icon today).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMeryl was very concerned at first,\u201d he explained, \u201cWe even had it up our sleeve that we could lip-sync some of those parts if it was necessary\u201d. Luckily, it all worked out, and Streep found herself Oscar-nominated for the part, although who was really surprised but her own talented self?\u00a0<\/p>\n