Meryl Streep has insisted she 'loves' her 'adorable' former Death Becomes Her co-star Goldie Hawn, calling her 'one of my buddies,' despite tensions on set in 1991-1992. In an interview with Vanity Fair on Thursday, the 76-year-old acting legend revealed that Hawn was frequently late to the set, which caused friction between the two.
'Goldie, she was always late to set,' Streep said. 'And I'm always on time, you know, and annoying. But she's late. She had a red convertible, I remember, and she'd drive herself to set. And so that was probably the problem. She'd drive herself to set.'
Streep recalled Hawn arriving with 'her hair all over' and apologising, but the crew found her charming. 'She's like, "Oh gosh, sorry!" And everybody thought, "Oh, she's so cute." Yeah, so I had a beef with her.'
The two actresses played frenemies Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp in Robert Zemeckis's hilarious zombie comedy, which earned $149 million at the global box office. Despite the initial friction, Streep said they have since laughed about the experience. 'Over the years, we've had some laughs about that movie because people love it,' the three-time Oscar winner said of the gay cult classic. 'I thought it was like a documentary on Beverly Hills.'
Hawn managed to cheer Streep up during the gruelling special effects sequences, which required Streep to wear a green spandex suit and contort her body as her undead character. 'I remember being in a green spandex suit that encompassed my whole body,' the Yale University graduate groaned. 'Tedious is a kind of a little word for what it is. It's excruciating.'
Streep added: 'And then when we get to the scene and we just do the scene, all silly, and fabulous me and with Goldie, we just laughed. We just had a lot of fun. And she's the best laugher in America, really. She laughs like [hearty belly laughing] and then they have to stop shooting...that part was fun.'
Streep also recalled accidentally scarring Hawn's cheek with a shovel during their fight scene. She had been worried about working with Bruce Willis, who played her onscreen husband, but found him 'wonderful.' 'Oh, Bruce was divine!' Streep gushed. 'We had so much fun with him. He was such a gent and so game and willing to be ridiculous.'
The New Jersey native earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as the narcissistic fading actress. In 2024, Death Becomes Her was adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, still running at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and set to tour in September.
Streep will next reprise her role as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada 2, a $150 million-budget sequel hitting US/UK theatres this Friday. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and others. Her other projects include a Joni Mitchell biopic, an oligarch thriller, and a potential Mamma Mia 3.
