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streep
Jonathan Hession

Casting Meryl Streep in "Dancing at Lughnasa" (opening Friday), the story of five strong-willed sisters battling poverty and prejudice in an Irish-Catholic town, was a double blessing for producer Neal Pearson ("My Left Foot"). Thanks to Streep's involvement, Pearson, who won a 1992 Tony Award for producing Brian Friel's stage version of "Lughnasa," snagged $12 million to make the Irish film. "Twelve million may be cheap by American standards, but usually 8 million is the tops" in Ireland, Pearson tells EW Online. "Meryl definitely helped get us more."

Streep, 49, even saved the production a few bucks by forgoing the expensive perks usually bestowed upon an Oscar winner. "She had no ambitions to be anything but one of the group," says director Pat O'Connor ("Circle of Friends"). Streep, for example, ditched the luxury of her giant private makeup trailer to stay close to fellow "sisters" Catherine McCormack, Kathy Burke, Sophie Thompson, and Brid Brennan. "Within a week she had asked for a small caravan like the rest of us," says the Belfast-born Brennan.

As for Streep's renowned gift for adopting accents, O'Connor says her Irish brogue is characteristically dead-on. "If anything, it was harder for the English actors (McCormack, Burke, and Thompson) to adjust than for an American," O'Connor says. "Meryl was terrific -- I was more worried about Brid's, the one Irish girl's, accent fitting in."


Posted Nov 11, 1998 | Order Article Reprints