CinemaThe actor who is Meryl Streep’s biggest inspirationActress had the opportunity to work alongside her great idol on three separate occasionsBy Editorial Staff

One of the greatest actresses of all time, Meryl Streep participated in several prominent films and competed for the Oscar on several occasions, winning the award three times. Her trajectory could have been very different, even in the same field: she almost followed another professional path if it weren’t for an equally well-known colleague, who became her biggest inspiration.

The first years of his career Streep were practically dedicated to theater. His original idea was to continue on stage. Until in 1976 the classic hit theaters Taxi Driverstarring Robert De Niro and directed by Martin Scorsese.

The actor’s performance in the role of the protagonist Travis Bickle was so remarkable to the point of making Meryl make the decision to leave theater and move to cinema. In conversation with the Golden Globe organization (via Far Out), she said:

I started to idolize Robert De Niro after watching Taxi Driver. He was the kind of actor I wanted to be as he grew (in his career).”

Meryl Streep’s previous admiration for her friend

The history of idolatry, in fact, began years before. In another interview, now with The Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep revealed that his admiration for Robert De Niro began in 1973. On that occasion, the actress went to the cinema to watch two films featuring her then little-known colleague: Single Player’s Last Battle and Dangerous Paths.

The artist was surprised by her friend’s performance in the first feature film. He even imagined that he wouldn’t be a real actor because of his character’s traits: a baseball player with low intellect. However, he changed his mind after seeing him in action in the second title.

Michael (Moriartywho starred with De Niro in the first film) was great, but we agree that this guy discovered in the south, who was not an actor, definitely not an actor, gave an incredible performance. We even think they drove around the eastern United States to find that guy. Then, that’s when we saw that man, that same boy (in the second film). He wasn’t ‘slow’, he wasn’t southern. He was a kid from New York, absolutely terrible, a fast-talking guy and we were surprised. We searched the credits to see his name. He said: ‘My God, he’s Italian. His name is Robert DeNiro. And he really is an actor.”

Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro together

After exchanging theater for cinema, it didn’t take long to Meryl Streep act with Robert De Niro. The two worked together for the first time in The Sniper (1978) — only the second film recorded by the actress.

It was even his own De Niro the person responsible for indicating Streep for work. The actor was impressed with his colleague after seeing one of her plays. She recalls:

It was a dream to work with him for the first time in The Sniper. After recording it, we wanted to do other things together and that’s when we discovered the script for Love at first sight (1984), which was a delicate story with a lot of inner emotions.”

In addition to The Sniper and Love at first sight, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro worked together on one more occasion: in the dramatic comedy Marvin’s Daughters (1996).

Collaborated: Augusto Ikeda.