Two words: Meryl. Streep.
Three words: Big. Little. Lies.
A sentence: Meryl. Streep. In. Big. Little. Lies.
The queen makes her debut on a show full of queens next Sunday, and if you’re like us, her casting was the thing that made you go from not really wanting a second season of the HBO “limited series” to wanting like five more seasons.
Obviously, because the cast and producers are all humans, they were also excited about the new addition to season two, who plays Mary Louise, grieving mother-in-law to Celeste (Nicole Kidman). Her son Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) perished under somewhat mysterious circumstances at the end of last season, and she has come for answers to her many questions. She has also come to help out her daughter-in-law, who just lost her husband, and to stir up trouble all over Monterey, which probably has enough trouble already to be honest.
At the show’s season two premiere, we got cast and producers to spill on what the star brings to the show, the set, their lives, and the answers are just about what you’d expect.
“She’s intimidating in theory…but then you get there, and she is the most professional, comfortable, down to earth, serious actor.”
“Major. Major. Meryl’s major.”
“There’s no one like her…She’s such a class act, she’s such a pro, and it’s so great to be around that…”
“Meryl’s the queen, so…”
“I came in one day and her name was right beside mine on the call sheet, and I took a picture and I sent it to my dad, and I was like, ‘Dad!’ and he was like ‘yeah, but she’s not sending that picture to her friends.'”
“It was the first day of shooting…and Reese was shooting a scene with her in a store, and she was hanging out on the sidewalk, and I walked up to say hi…and she turned to me and said, ‘Meryl Streep is in there!'”
“It’s pretty amazing to have the greatest actress of all time on the show that you’re also on.”
“She’s just a master of her craft, and she still tries to improve herself as an actor and as a woman, and I think that’s the most honorable act one can ever do.”
Showrunner David E. Kelley says he was personally both “intimidated and liberated” by Meryl’s presence.
“Intimidated because she’s Meryl Streep, and that bar is set very very high, and liberated because you want season two to be new, different, and better, and when you have an addition like Meryl Streep entering the equation, that gives you a leg up,” he says.
Season two certainly gets a leg up from Meryl, from what we’ve seen so far. But stay tuned for more on that tomorrow.
Big Little Lies season two premieres Sunday, June 9 on HBO.
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