For Susan Traberne (Meryl Streep), nothing can match the danger and excitement
of her wartime work as a courier for the French Resistane; nor can any man match
the British Agent with whom hse had a passionate liaison. After the war, as
other are eager to settle back to a steady life, Susan becomes restless and
disillusioned; determined to change the world but unable to make a mark. As
those closest to her, including her long-suffering diplomat husband (Charles
Dance), her bohemian free-spirit friend (Tracey Ullma) and her angry young lover
(Sting) - become caught in the maelstrom of her instability, Susan riskes
everything in an emotional struggle with a life of plenty.
Offscreen as well as on, Dance and Streep found their profesional conduct conflicting. "Dame Meryl," as he jokingly calls her, mystified him. Not long after the 11-week shoot, he told one reporter, "I did not find her easy to work with, but then it's not her job to make it easy for me." These days he hedges -- a bit. "I didn't have the rapport with her that I'm used to having with English actors," he says. "On days that our characters got on, so did we. The days they didn't, we didn't either." In the film, the latter far outnumber the former. There were times, he says, "I would think, 'Christ, is it me? Do I have bad breath today? Or am I turning in an appalling performance?'"
On the other hand Meryl Streep wasn't quite what he expected when they starred together in Plenty.
"You're going to ask me about Meryl, aren't you?" he said. "You've been reading the cuttings, I know! Listen, Meryl works under tremendous pressure, and she works in a particular way that wasn't a way I was used to working.
"There were some tensions, but I do have the highest regard for her. She's had labels pinned on her, like we all have. All the time, people are watching her box-office grosses very closely. Audiences see her movies because Meryl is the star and that's an enormous pressure to work under. If that pressure manifests itself in her being a little distant at times, then so be it."
Working with Shirley MacLaine on the TV production of Shirley's book, Out On A Limb, was a far happier experience for him. He nodded in agreement.
"Shirley is extraordinary. More than a little eccentric! It was marvellous, and a great pleasure to work with her. A STAR in the proper sense of that word," he said.
"Shirley works from the gut. Meryl is much more cerebral. That's the essential difference between them. But both are consumate artistes. Shirley has been at it longer. She has come up the hard way, having started out as a chorus girl. That's not to say Meryl hasn't worked hard for it. But Shirley is from the days of the old Hollywood star system, and is a wonderful product of it. Yes, working with her was an enormously enjoyable experience!"
"You're going to ask me about Meryl, aren't you?" he said. "You've been reading the cuttings, I know! Listen, Meryl works under tremendous pressure, and she works in a particular way that wasn't a way I was used to working.
"There were some tensions, but I do have the highest regard for her. She's had labels pinned on her, like we all have. All the time, people are watching her box-office grosses very closely. Audiences see her movies because Meryl is the star and that's an enormous pressure to work under. If that pressure manifests itself in her being a little distant at times, then so be it."
Working with Shirley MacLaine on the TV production of Shirley's book, Out On A Limb, was a far happier experience for him. He nodded in agreement.
"Shirley is extraordinary. More than a little eccentric! It was marvellous, and a great pleasure to work with her. A STAR in the proper sense of that word," he said.
"Shirley works from the gut. Meryl is much more cerebral. That's the essential difference between them. But both are consumate artistes. Shirley has been at it longer. She has come up the hard way, having started out as a chorus girl. That's not to say Meryl hasn't worked hard for it. But Shirley is from the days of the old Hollywood star system, and is a wonderful product of it. Yes, working with her was an enormously enjoyable experience!"
Plenty in 12 parts on Youtube :
-part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKu4E8teTao
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Charles Dance has a thankless role, I suppose, as her long-suffering husband, but manages to suggest that he is decent as well as duped.
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