The image of the actress after a failed audition at the beginning of her career goes viral again despite the fact that it was proven false two years ago.
Two years ago it already went viral. And for a couple of days, at the initiative of an account from a fan of the artist Banksy (although many believe that he is the real deal, he is a follower who has accumulated almost two million followers on Twitter), the hoax about the photo of Meryl Streep returning on the New York subway in the 70s after, supposedly, an audition in which she was rejected for being "too ugly" to act in King Kong.
The caption of the image, taken from a Facebook account of Meryl L. Streep followers that was uploaded on November 10, 2015 and that supposedly quotes the artist's verbatim words, says: "This is me coming home after an audition." for King Kong in which I was told I was too 'ugly' for the role. It was a momentous moment for me.
That malicious opinion could have broken my dreams of becoming an actress or forced me to pull myself together and believe in myself. I took a breath and said, 'I'm sorry you think I'm too ugly for your movie, but yours is just one opinion among thousands. Today I have 18 Oscar nominations.” But neither the account that signed it on her day is from Meryl Streep, nor does the image correspond to the day of the supposed audition, nor has Meryl Streep said that phrase literally.
As Anne Helen Petersen explained when denying the hoax in 2015, Streep explained in January 2015 on The Graham Norton show a similar anecdote where she told how before becoming famous she tried to get the lead role in King Kong, which Jessica Lange finally got.
It was 1976, Dino de Laurentiis's son had seen Streep in a play and decided to present her to her father, producer of King Kong, for the film. Upon seeing her enter his office, as the actress herself remembers in the video, De Laurentiis (father) said that she was too brutta (ugly), to which she replied, also in Italian: "I'm sorry I'm not pretty enough to be in King." Kong«.
Neither the words match nor the photo was taken when she returned from De Laurentiis' office. The image was taken five years after the incident, in 1981. It is a snapshot taken by Ted Thai and yes, he had already won an Oscar for Kramer vs. Kramer. By the way, Streep no longer has 18 nominations. There are 20 and there are three Oscars.
