Why Meryl Streep Offered Musical Roles OVER Barbra Streisand

Because Barbra is a crap singer. (You know it's true.)

Perhaps because she is too old for all those movies? And also because she's not interested.

[quote] because she's not interested.

They don't know unless they ask her

Which movies have Barbra singing 10 songs?

[quote]

It used to be said in Hollywood that you film Barbra Streisand singing ten songs in a movie, it will gross 100 million dollars.

And then you woke up and realized no one ever said that ever.

R6, Ellen Burstyn said she was shocked she was able to repeat "Same Time, Next Year" because the wisdom is add a song, get Streisand and you have box office appeal.

It was five songs in a movie. And it was when they were making A Star is Born and the director questioned the quality of the script. The executives told him it didn't matter. As long as you put Streisand in a movie singing five songs, the movie would make a ton of money. And they were right at that time.

Thanks R7 - so it was five songs, not ten

I get paid for singing 10, but I only sing 5.

She's not a singer. I am.

So if anyone even actually said that about Barbra Streisand for "A Star in Born," according to wikipiedia (see link), it only made $80 million (which is enormously commendable, but it is NOT $100 million).

But why would they possibly have said that when in her previous film, "Funny Lady," she had sung more than five songs and the film grossed only $40 million?

And the next film where she sang more than five songs was "Yentl," and it only made $41 million?

This is just one of those STUPIDLY inaccurate premises for a thread. It's premised on something that someone supposedly said in 1976, which was forty-two years ago, and which was not even true then.

Barbara only appeared in three films which made more than $100 million at the box office: "The Prince of Tides," and "Meet the Fockers" and "Little Fockers" (in the latter two films, btw, she only had supporting roles). In NONE of those three movies did she sing five songs.

None of her musicals ever made more than $80 million, and that was only once.

Doesn't Barbra take herself too seriously? And doesn't that then make her hard to be taken seriously believable by movie patrons?

R11 if you indexed it to inflation all those movies that made between $40 to $60 million dollars would gross today in $100 million dollars.

I don't think it was mean to be a precise mathematical estimate. The executive was just implying that you put Streisand in a movie, have her sing, and it will be a big hit. And all of her movies where she sang up to that point were big hits at the box office, and a couple were among the top grossing films of their respective years.

I just looked up how those A Star Is Born dollars would translate due to inflation:

$80K in 1976 is equivalent to $354K in 2018

R14, but it was also that there were so few female movie stars at the time and almost none who could open a movie. Remember that scene in "Unmarried Woman" where the Clayburgh character talks about the lack of leading women in the movies today. Streisand and Jane Fonda are mentioned but they note that compared to the Golden Age, there aren't many at all.

Meryl Streep makes a movie every other month, whereas Barbra makes one every five years.

While I was at it, I also looked up Funny Girl re inflation:

Its $52K in 1968 translates as almost $377K in 2018

And here's a non-musical one for you:

What's Up, Doc's $66K gross is the equivalent of almost $400K in 2018

Oops my mistake - I kept using"K" above when I meant to be referring to millions (not thousands)

Too old and has a busted face.

She might be offered those roles still, and turns them down...when her age isn’t a handicap for playing them. I imagine she’s off developing her own properties (which will never happen) and that eats up a lot of her time.

Why doesn’t she do a bio pic on herself, starring Jason as the young Babs?

The Witch In "Into The Woods" would be PERFECT for Barbra, yet it was Streep who offered the part.

Streep is hardly even in "Mamma Mia 2", yet they'll probably push her for the Beatrice Straight 5-minute appearance award (plus Meryl sings too).

R15 Deanna Durbin started the template of put her in a movie and just have her sing and the public and its money will come.

I mean R14.

They don't want to deal with all of the drama and shit from Streisand.

Streisand is not an actress first. For musicals you need acting. The songs can be tuned and tweaked.

Maybe it just means Barbra already had her day in Hollywood ... and like R26 says, she's not an actress.

Kind of a limited vocalist too.

So if she's some top-notch director, maybe we need to see more of that.

But she is ....

BARBRA STREISAND

What bullshit. Barbra could have done Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa, Bridges of Madison County, and Silkwood just as good as Streep.

But could Streep have done Funny Girl, Yentl, The Way we were and What's up Doc as good as Streisand?

Exactly.

Care to discuss acting anymore?

I didn't think so.

In all seriousness Barbra actually expressed interest in Sophie's Choice. She has always wanted to do a film about the Holocaust. She was offered at part in "Playing For Time" but it was for TV, and other than her own TV Specials, Barbra doesn't do TV.

I was being serious. Streisand has a depth on screen that many trained actors cannot touch. She is very underrated as an actress. Part of that is her own fault because she tends to be egocentric. But it often works for the project, so can you really fault her for that?

Meanwhile. put Streep in Yentl. Aside from the fact that Meryl can't sing, could you really picture her playing a man convincingly? Could she have the same sexy California meets Brooklyn vibe that Streisand gave off in What's up Doc?

People today don't know how good Streisand is and can be.

Because two reasons

Barbra is not box office and Barbra is 120 years old

And please, Barbra is a terrible actress

It was six songs and sixty million.

It's in all the Streisand biographies in exactly those words.

The point of the phrase is not that a Streisand musical would make that much necessarily, but that audiences wanted to hear her singing in her films, and they would tend to be more successful (this is speaking generally) rather than her non-musicals.

But the point is with all the new musicals being produced, why Streisand is not offered these parts?

Because she is too old, not box office, and not appealing

I pee my pants, but please understand it's not because I'm excited to talk to OR listen to my stepmother. Oy. Her singing hurts my ears.

True, Meryl is not great at comedy. And can't play a man maybe. You need Glenn for that! But Barbara couldn't have done any of Meryl's dramatic roles except poorly. She's very self involved and limited in range - nowhere near the class Meryl is in.

Barbra seems like someone who wouldn't know her place as an actor-for-hire. Like she would try and take over the movie and make it her own. She just reeks of egotism and narcissism. And this isn't an anti-strong woman rant. It's an anti-pain in the ass rant.

OP, Streisand’s last musical was in 1983 (Yentl), 35 years ago! It has been her choice to barely work and focus on directing. She wanted to do Gypsy but could not get the financing, which tells you how much her stature has fallen. IMHO she waited too long to do another movie musical.

Straight men wouldn’t be caught dead watching a Barbra movie. They’ll sit through a Meryl movie if pussy is guaranteed afterward.

Agree that Streep is much more flexible - she’ll take a small part and be easy about it. Barbra is not wired that way. Everything with her is a production and difficult. She has a new TV show with Ryan Murphy so hopefully she can sing there again.

BARBRA!

All of this specious translation into 2018 dollars

[bold] S T I L L [/bold]

does not hide the fact that none of those movies made anywhere

[bold] N E A R [bold]

$100 million or more at their original time of release, as OP

[bold] E R R O N E O U S L Y [/bold]

and

[bold] D E L U S I O N A L L Y [/bold]

and

[bold] C L E A R L Y [/bold]

claimed.

[bold] S T I L L ! ! ! [/bold]

Meryl has proven more than once that she cannot play every role that comes her way. SHE DEVIL & DEATH BECOMES HER? Subtle as a box of rocks falling on your head...only when THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA & IT’S COMPLICATED came out did she learn to tone it down in comedy. Then she did those rancid impersonations of Julia Child and Margaret Thatcher.

"Death Becomes Her" was quirky enough to let M's sense of comedy work. R45, who would you have preferred to see playing Madeline Ashton?

Barbara peaked in movies in the 70’s. Fifty years ago. I am noticing a lot of threads lately where people are delusional and trying to argue their fantasies?

I can't picture Barbra being in "Mamma Mia" or singing a lot of bubbly ABBA songs. Not a good fit for her grande dame persona now. More serious, dramatic songs, sure - if she still has the voice for it.

They should have cast Barbra as Meryl mother in Mama Mia instead of Cher

R44 please take your meds

This thread is as stupid and the Barbra/Shirley thread.

Barbra has joined the "life's too short" list. She might agree to do a film, but she'll keep fussing around with all sorts of shit until you look and 3 years have passed and you still haven't started rolling. Everything has to be just right for Babs to do anything.

It's just like with The Normal Heart and Gypsy. I think Babs would have been a decent Rose on screen as late as right after Chicago came out in 2002, but she kept waiting until there was no way in hell that anyone would believe her as the mother of two young children. It's not even her face that looks old. It's the way she moves. You can see it in her recent concerts. She moves like a grandma. She's not very spry. They'd have to film her against a blue screen and paste her head onto a younger body for the entire movie.

She really only has herself to blame. She could have really had a great cinematic legacy, but ego and laziness took care of that. Her only films that are classics are Funny Girl, What's Up Doc, and The Way We Were and those movies are old enough to play Rose themselves.

R52, she still has a great cinematic legacy. Regardless of whether or not her credits are all stellar, she will be remembered as one of the greatest female stars, movie or otherwise, of all time.

I'll play this.