Feature for The Hours

To spend an hour with Meryl Streep is to know that she is vastly underrated by Hollywood. Sure, she's hailed as the finest dramatic actress of her generation.

And, yes, she holds the record, along with Katharine Hepburn, for the most Oscar nominations. In fact, if she nets a 13th nod for the upcoming "Adaptation" or "The Hours," she will, literally, be the Academy's favorite performer.

But Streep's comedic instincts have rarely been tapped on film. Botched comedies like "Heartburn," "She-Devil" and "Death Becomes Her" have hardly become Streep. This is a woman who lives to giggle.

Dressed in a pantsuit she describes as "an old freebie from Armani," Streep sits down for an interview in Beverly Hills ready to talk about anything but acting.

Feed her the type of questions most thespians gobble up and she shoots you a glare that says, "We're not going there, are we?" Try complimenting her on her body of work and she nearly throws you out of the room.

But when the subject shifts to other, less lofty topics, the Summit, New Jersey native happily lets loose. She loves talking about her kids (Henry, 23, Mary Willa, 19, Grace, 16, and Louisa,11) and cooking (her best dish is a delicacy made with pork, sour cream and salsa) and Broadway theater (she just caught her pal Al Pacino in "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui").

Most of her stories end with a self-deprecating punchline. Ask her about Oscar buzz, and she admits she's dying for another nomination.

"It would be great because I have four kids and I've taken three of them to the ceremony," says Streep, 53, who's won twice before, for "Kramer Vs. Kramer" and "Sophie's Choice."

"Since then, the 11-year-old is, like, 'When do the nominations come out?' I go, `Shut up, already.' She just wants to go and see stars, and I say, 'I'm a star.' But she's not buying that."

This season, even little Louisa Streep might have to admit that her mother deserves to be in the spotlight. Opening in limited release on Friday in "Adaptation," which brings together "Being John Malkovich" scripter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze for another exercise in the surreal.

The impossible to describe comedy involves Kaufman's attempts to adapt Susan Orlean's non-fiction book "The Orchid Thief" for the screen. Kaufman and his twin-brother Donald (both played by Nicolas Cage), Orlean (Streep) and a real-life orchid hunter (Chris Cooper) all play roles in the cubist puzzle, which, ultimately, is about the desire in all of us to experience passion.

Streep can't say enough good things about the "Adaptation" experience.

"On our first day on this movie, Nick and I filmed this dream seduction scene. I walked in, shook hands and climbed on top of him," she hoots. "There was none of this sensitivity, bonding stuff.

"My biggest difficulty was dealing with Nick because he makes me laugh. He's so funny. I couldn't help it. He'd send me into laughing spasms. There wasn't that much laughing when Chris got on the set. He's a little more professional than Nick and me."

Director Spike Jonze confirms Streep's penchant for silliness. "We learned early on having little laughing fits was one of Nick's habits. Then we discovered it's also one of Meryl's. When you combine them it shuts down the set. There were times when everyone was standing around waiting for Nick and Meryl to stop laughing so we could shoot."

"The Hours," which opens in limited release on Dec. 27 before going wide on Jan. 17, is a more serious affair. Based on Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel , the film is about a day in the life of three
women: Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman), a 1950s housewife (Julianne Moore) pondering suicide; and a present-day editor (Streep) preparing a dinner party for her AIDS-stricken ex-lover (Ed Harris).

"It's very delicate and very underwritten," explains Streep. "A lot of it depends on whether or not it can play musically. Initially, I turned it down. Then I talked to [director] Stephen Daldry, and he had a vision about it. So, I turned around and said yes."

To hear Streep tell it, she often does an about-face on her way to accepting a role.

"I have varying degrees of confidence and self-loathing," she admits. "Usually I have a lot of doubt. I always say to my husband, 'I've never felt like this before,' and he goes , 'No, you do this every time. You dismantle yourself before you begin. This is your process.'

"I always feel like I can't do it, that I can't go through with a movie. But then I do go through with it after all."

Streep's work, which includes classics like "The Deerhunter," "Kramer Vs. Kramer," "Manhattan," "Sophie's Choice," "Silkwood," "Out of Africa" and "The Bridges of Madison County," has inspired hero worship from her fellow performers.

Claire Danes, who plays Streep's daughter in "The Hours" says, "Meryl has been my idol since I was a conscious being." Another "Hours" co-star, Nicole Kidman, says, "Meryl Streep just raised the bar. I mean, she is the great one and she really set the standard for all the rest of us."

"Adaptation" co-star Nicolas Cage agrees: "I've worshipped Meryl from afar for years."

Ask Streep's two-time co-star Jack Nicholson about her and a Joker-sized grin breaks across his face. "I can tell you the most immediate experience that I had with Meryl," he offers. "She did an 'Oprah' show in which she called me a lovable wreck of a human being. She was mad at me for something I said about her in an article [about aging in Hollywood].

"So, I had to call Meryl up on the phone and straighten that out because I really care what she thinks. She's a smart person. Working with her, it's a dream. A lot of people admire Meryl from the outside because she does wonderful work.

"When you're in there working with her, it's kind of like dancing with the most amazing partner. You don't have to do anything with her. You just get carried along by it, and are fascinated by it.

"And she's an extremely substantial human being. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a couple of her kids at a Neil Young concert and they were very impressive people too."

Since marrying sculptor Don Gummer in 1978, Streep has lived in Connecticut. Although she's longed to return to the Broadway stage, she's only done one play - a 2001 revival of "The Seagull" - in the last two decades.

"It's hard during the school year," admits the actress who'll next be seen in Mike Nichols' six-hour HBO mini-series "Angels in America." "I don't like to be gone all weekend and at night too. Because for twenty years, I've had children who are in school.

"I have seven more years to go until the last one is grown up. I'm not counting, of course. No, not at all. "

A couple of Streep's children are considering show business careers themselves. The idea leaves Mom feeling less than thrilled. "Well, you know, it's a wonderful profession, but it's a really heartbreaking one," she says with a sigh.

"It's hard to encourage your children towards heartbreak. Now, medical school - that I would like to encourage."