Frances McDormand is a better actress than Meryl Streep

Has she done a bunch of accents tho?

She just got lucky.

And neither one can hold a candle to Bette Davis.

Three Best Actress Oscars.

She couldn't have pulled off Mamma Mia!

She shit in a bucket because she had to.

Such a humble worker without a kid named Thumb....

And she has no Mamie to answer for...

Shitting in a bucket is the new showing your tits.

I can't believe she won for this - not that she's not a great actress.

R5 And you think Streep pulled off Momma Mia?

Angelica Huston is a better actress than Streep and has mastered various accents unobtrusively in Prizzi's Honor, The Dead and Enemies: A Love Story.

Yes.

You don't the click-click-click Katharine Hepburn famously shaded Meryl for in a Frances McDormand character. Especially not in Nomadland.

Frances is like Jack Nicholson. Charismatic but generally plays the same character over and over again.

No actor has the range of Streep. No one will ever match her number of nominations or be able to play that variety of roles.

So, be grateful for both.

Who gives a fuck what Hepburn said? Her acting looks corny and dated now.

If Julianne Moore could win for that embarrassment of a performance in Still Alice, I see no issue with awarding Franny for this performance.

R14 R15 Have you seen Out of Africa, Ironweed, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Plenty, Sophie's Choice, Dancing at Lughnasa, One True Thing, Julie and Julia, Music of the Heart, One True Thing, Kramer vs Kramer, Silkwood? Boring, pointless, pretentious, over-rated. That refers to her and the films themselves.

^ ditto Heartburn, Iron Lady and The Post though her performance in the latter is good the film isn't.

Both are good, but neither is as good as Glenn.

What was wrong with Moore in Still Alice r16? Granted, she's given bad performances but she was fine it.

I can't stand her. She plays the same constipated cunt in every role, I see why dykes like her.

It's the gift I didn't know I wanted.

Frances McDormand, the only working actress who has won three lead Oscars.

Love it.

Can someone translate r13 for me, please?

My clit started throbbing when Frances won.

Hillary Swank has won 2 semi-deserved Oscars, and she’s not in Close’s league, she’s not in McDormand’s league, and she sure as hell isn’t Streep’s league. So what’s the point?

As for charisma, watch DeNiro and Nicholson at the height of their powers in The Last Tycoon and try to say that Nicholson’s charisma had nothing to do with wiping DeNiro off the screen in their shared scene. Charisma is also the difference between Daniel Day Lewis and Leo DiCaprio. Ya got it or you ain’t.

R23 not r13 You can hear the gears grinding when she acts; she's robotic. Pauline Kael referred to Streep as a 'replicant' To me she's dull and lacks screen presence and her film choices Ironweed, Plenty, Sophie's Choice, Iron lady, Music from the Heart, Kramer vs. Kramer, One True Thing, Dancing at Lughnasa, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Post, Heartburn, Out of Africa . . .ugh!!!!

The one scene in Nomadland where McDormand walks thru the campsite--only saying one line--is a master class in nuanced acting. I'm rewatching it again and have already cried x2 (and I'm only about halfway thru it). All of you who keep beating the dead, shitting horse about her shitting in the bucket either didn't watch 'Nomadland', or blinked and missed the scene where she did full frontal in the stream. She now has x3 Best Actress Oscars and x1 for Best Picture, as she produced 'Nomadland' as well.

[...]

I love the fact that gay men hate her. It only makes her seem cooler.

R21, everyone likes her. Well, except prissy gay guys like you. But thats a good thing.

I'd have to say i've gotten more out of a Frances McDormand role than Meryl. That's honest. Meryl is so hammy. i don't care about her accents, i care about what she puts into the role, the heart and understanding. therefore i prefer Frances. Just my opinion.

R28 Enough with the fucking filmography argument. I’m ecstatic Frances won tonight and I love her deeply as an actress and human being, so this comment isn’t meant as shade towards and really has nothing to do with her at all, but great filmographies do not a great actress make!

I just hate it when detractors take cheap shots and try to act as if an actress’ filmography or number of box office hits has anything to do with their gift or talent as an actress; they don’t. There have been truly stunning performances in both fair and excellent films, which have also both failed and hit the jackpot at the box office.

In fact, if an actress has a less than stellar filmography and no box office clout and is still beloved and awarded, I respect her more. It shows me that it’s her GIFT and TALENT that she’s ridden on, not the coattails of a mainstream critical darling or box office smash.

Actresses are not directors, whom they are truly at the mercy of, and not responsible for what audiences choose to pay to watch.

Ugh!

Stick to the acting!

It's going to be okay, r32, I promise. This is just DataLounge dissecting the Oscars. It's not really a big deal.

Meryl, Jessica, Glenn, Sissy, Sigourney, Debra, Holly, Susan, Sally, Jane, Diane......they are all far superior to Frances McDormand.

The Academy merely highlighted how poor their judgement is, though they got it right with the other acting prizes.

Did Frances actually shit in a bucket and bare all in a stream?!?!

R32 But performers have a choice of roles to choose from as surely Meryl does/did and she has chosen stiff, dull, self-important projects and responded in kind with lifeless, self-important performances that parade as art because they sure as hell aren't entertainment. Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, A Cry in the Dark and Postcards from the Edge were at least entertaining and she was also good in Hope Springs and The Post. She generally doesn't click with her leading men: Kurt Russell in Silkwood, Redford in Out of Africa, DeNiro in Falling in love, Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins, Baldwin and Steve Martin It's Complicated . . .

Has she shit in a bucket?

Yes, r37, it’s called “The Prom”.

R17, R26, this is for you.

No doubt she'll be dissecting McDormand very soon...

R36, Death Becomes Her, She-Devil.

I kind of think as Meryl as a factory/assembly line actress and Frances as actually inhabiting the role from the inside out. And she doesn't just take whatever role comes her way. her longevity gives her this choice. I don't begrudge Meryl her filmography. i think she has had the benefit of being able to choose whatever role she wants: fun, serious, in-between. but it doesn't make her the best. it makes her versatile. But Frances inhabited this role to the fullest. and i think she deserves it. she wasn't a ham, she lived the life to the fullest.

I was molested.

She was good in Mississippi Burning

Frances McDormand is pretty much the same in every film she makes.

Three for acting is a bit too much. She starred in Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton, and I keep on thinking how strange it is that Keaton only has one and McDormand has three. She won for BP, they could have just left it at that and given BA to Mulligan, although I would've preferred if Mulligan had won a clean sweep across award season.

This thread is such BS. Both are fantastic actresses, but 2 different people with a different approach to acting. Why do we need to compare them?

That’s a lie OP, and you know it.

It's because she's married to a Coen brother, and pretends to be an asexual or a sort of gay-baiting lesbian. That's why she's "respected" as she is.. She's good, but there are many who could fill her shoes in a second. She's not that fucking good.

McDormand has never impressed me. She would never have broken into the industry if it she wasn't married to one of the Coen brothers.

We'll see about that.

If I were a writer, I would want always to write roles for Frances McDormand.

Look at that. You blew out my light.

I see them both as great actresses, but here is the difference for me:

Frances McDormand is a great actress.

Meryl Street is a great actress and will be damned if she doesn't do everything in her power to let you know it.

Both are good. Meryl has vastly more range.

Frances plays one type of role. It's basically herself. The one that turns up to award shows with her hair not done and scruffy clothes and gives an oddball speech because she's crazy and doesn't fit in with this rich crowd. She's authentic and "regular" and has to suffer for it so please give her an award.

[quote] Meryl Street is a great actress and will be damned if she doesn't do everything in her power to let you know it.

I see what you did there, R53.

LOL actually I hadn't had coffee yet r56

Can this multi-millionaire industry-insider privileged asshole never bother to get her hair done for a public event? Fucking pig slob. I see why dykes like her.

R58 Oh, M...

I love how pressed Frances makes people.

Are Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep the new drained pasta??

What Issa Rae said then deleted is the more accurate comparison this time around.

Which was...?!!

R5 She wouldn't have wanted to pull off Mamma Mia.

She's discerning, and not shallow.

Meryl Streep looks the same in every movie.

As Margaret Thatcher, oh look it's Streep.

With black hair in a wedge cut, oh look it's Streep again.

With curly red hair standing on a dyke, oh look it's Streep again.

With long blonde hair in She Devil, or Death Becomes Her, or Falling in Love, or Defending Your Life, or It's Complicated:

OH LOOK, IT'S STREEP AGAIN

Can't believe she got 3 BA already while Bette Davis only got 2.

I can't believe Bette Davis got 2

No more Oscars for McDormand. I don't want her tying Katherine Hepburn.

Can she sing?

Viola Davis acted Streep off the screen in DOUBT. Watch that scene. Watch Davis. And see how it is done.

And Viola Davis could do the same thing to Frances McDormand.

[quote] Frances McDormand is a better actress than Meryl Streep

That's true, but most of the public aren't willing to spend their hard earned money to look at Frances's face

Just don't accidentally call her "Fern" or she'll cut a bitch.

No argument from me, OP.

Meryl Streep is more versatile in the sack.

[quote] Just don't accidentally call her "Fern" or she'll cut a bitch.

Is that what Chloe Zhao said last night?

[quote] Meryl Streep looks the same in every movie.

You expect her to physically morph into....Nathan Lane, perhaps?

R75 Yes, she called her "Fern." Frances was NOT amused.

R76 Yeah, what a shitty actress Meryl is, what with her inability to shape shift and all.

Frances is such a CUNT. She just CUNTED all over every second she was on screen.

CUNT CUNT CUNT CUNT CUNT

Two turds in a bucket, mother fuck it.

Frances to her detractors:

R39 'She's a box office queen'? 'She's a regular presence in blockbusters that make a ton of money' WTF!

Name one besides Momma Mia a dreadful musical that is the highest grossing film she appeared in. Ironweed, Iron Lady, Still of the Night, Ricki and the Flash (2015), Hope Springs (2012), Suffragette(2015), The Giver (2014), August: Osage County (2013), Julie and Julia, It's Complicated (2009), Lions For Lambs (2007), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Hours, Music of the Heart, Dancing at Lughnasa, Before and After, Marvin's Room, The House of Spirits, Defending Your Life, Plenty, The French Lieutenant's Woman, She-Devil, Prime (2005), Evening (2007), Rendition, Dark Matter (2014), The Homesman (2014)

Many of these recent films I've never heard of and never heard anyone talk about and are they ever shown on streaming services or HBO? The lady appears to be box office poison despite what that idiot in the video would have you believe.

[quote] No more Oscars for McDormand. I don't want her tying Katherine Hepburn.

Agreed

Streep’s movies have grossed over $3 billion, not that it matters to her haters. She also became a bigger star in her 50’s, and has stayed an A-lister since the 70’s.

I couldn’t watch FM’s acceptance speech. As soon as her arms were waving in the air, her hair was greasy and it looked like she was gearing up to offer her Oscar to someone else, or to complain about something, or rage about sucking Coen dick, I was out.

Meryl doesn’t do down and dirty well - at least not to me. She was decent in Silkwood and Ironweed but I have a hard time believing her in downtrodden roles...it’s like a National Merit Scholar playing Daisy Duke. JMO

Awards are rarely about skill level. The best actress doesn't win, the most popular wins which is why awards are stupid,

You could easily cherry pick all of Hepburn’s bad films. She played an Asian woman for Christ’s sake. Any performer who has ten or more memorable films is lucky.

The only Streep movie I really liked was Heartburn (remember when that was on HBO all the time in the 80's?). Funny and made me actually want to be a grownup.

Meryl had to wait almost 30 years to get a third. And only after a major PR blitz for that Thatcher turd.

McDormand.got thrice in less than five years and didn’t have to do shit to get it.

Add to that Glenn becoming a sensation on twitter with her dancing and it just wasn’t a very good night for the Streep trolls.

You have to judge a great actress by her success as well as her failures. Streep lost a lot of her shine in her horrible, Mommie Dearest like performance in August: Osage County.

Actually, now that I think about it, how fantastic would Frances have been in that! What a waste.

Frances is a much better actress, but I will concede that Streep is a better celebrity.

I think Frances is better at playing Frances.

R92 I agree. I think Francis is a very good actress. Best role was in Mississippi Burning. But I feel like the more I see her. The more I just see slight variations of her.

Frances had some great sex last night.

[quote]I think Francis is a very good actress.

Oh, dear!

Sorry Frances, not Francis.

This is like Hilary Swank winning Oscars two years apart for playing the same role. Frances doesn't have any range. She has a lot of friends in Hollywood but not much range.

All I can think about is the comma splice in OP's explanation.

Even Faye Dunaway has a better CV than Meryl. La Dunaway has three masterpieces on her resume; Meryl has none.

McDormand was on the verge of being overexposed during awards season for Three Billboards, but once she got her oscar, did the smart thing and laid low.

Streep, on the other hand, has just been relentlessly shoved in the public eye for the last twenty years. Of couirse people were going to get tired of her eventually, and she didn't have the smarts to just take time off.

It's not surprising that McDormand has tied Hepburn with the most oscars of any actress. I can even picture her getting another acting oscar soon as well. She could be the one to break Hepburn's record.

Streep...not so much.

Frances can win Oscars seemingly at will. She stays in her lane and doesn't promote herself (or her ~brand~) as they say these days. She keeps her head down and does the work. You can't say that she campaigned a la Hathaway or Redmayne to win another award. It's not her damn fault that they fall all over themselves for her work.

I hope she breaks K Hepburn's record.

Streep has at least ten classic films, starting with The Deer Hunter all the way through to The Post. You haters are relentless.

The Post is not a classic movie.

Stop sniffing the office White out.

Here’s a present: fuck off hater

The issue is Meryl Streep has become too much of a celebrity now, she doesnt disappear in roles anymore, everybody knows the character is Meryl Streep acting and sometimes even showing off. She isnt as effective as she used to be. Its the same feeling I get with Cate Blanchett, too actressy. But the likes of Frances Mcdormand (and Sally Hawkins, Laurie Metcalfe as examples) you have no idea what they look like and what they really have done before and they remain effective.

R97 Frances only has friends in the industry because everybody want to work with the Coens.

If she'd never lucked out with them she would probably be a very minor character actress if she were lucky.

She's a hard worker, that Frances.

She don't need to comb her hair,...she don't need but sacks to wear ....cuz she don't care

She Frances the talking mule!

Meryl Streep is yesterday's news.

[quote] It's because she's married to a Coen brother, and pretends to be an asexual or a sort of gay-baiting lesbian.

Um, no, while her persona may be kind of dykey, she does not pretend to be an asexual or a gay-baiting lezzie, whatever that means. If you don't like her acting, fine, but there's really no need to make up weird shit about her.

R109 The shit they come up with.

I can't stand meryl or frances

[quote]Meryl had to wait almost 30 years to get a third. And only after a major PR blitz for that Thatcher turd.

Gillian Anderson's Thatcher portrayal in The Crown is better.

R106 Whatever, asshole. How can you say? They’ve been lucky to get her when they have. Is Liv Ullmann only Bergman’s shadow or was she more?

Frances McDormand may be a good actress, but I'm finding her hard to look at for 2 1/2 straight hours. She has to be one of the homeliest women in Hollywood today.

Love Francis... but Francis also plays “Francis” in many of her movies, whereas Meryl is much more diverse with her parts

Ca R97 Swank played the same role? No variations? Yes they were both trash but she is that and can’t help it lol. Similarities end there, no? God, can’t a waitress get a meal at her own job? She has to take the piece of steak...

Jess was better as Frances than Frances is as Frances. Don't know why they keep awarding her.

Instead of shitting in a bucket, do you think this Frances gal would like to shit on an elegantly designed glass table while simulating oral sex with her latest Oscar? It’s the least she could do, if she wants my vote next time.

Just wait until Viola runs out of snot.

Her career will be over.

R70 Wait until Viola runs out of snot

Her career will be over.

I bet more people would pay to watch Frances face rather than Viola's lol.

R71 I'll pay to see her face before that fucking Streep's face.

I agree.

And Jill Clayburgh, Ellen Burstyn, Vanessa Redgrave, Faye Dunaway, Geraldine Page, Glenda Jackson, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, Glenn Close and Maggie Smith are better actresses than Meryl as well.

Sure. Those old gals can play anything, from comedy to musicals to accents to heavy drama, even from the grave. They just haven’t wanted to or are too shy.

OP, you are dead wrong. Meryl Streep is a better actress and has more grace and dignity than Frances McDormand. Meryl could play every role Frances has done with perfection, but there is no way Frances McDormand could ever be a romantic lead in many of the roles Meryl has played.

R124 confuses "better" with "versatile."

Streep is versatile. (Not as versatile as Glenn Close. Ahem.) McDormand is deeper and truer than Streep, but only when cast in the more narrow range of roles for which she is ideally suited.

McDorman works from the inside. You get a lot of McDormand in her performances. Streep works from the outside, reaching out to all the character elements and bringing them together. Often successfully. But not always.

R125 = Uta Hagen

All of Fern’s characters certainly smell the same.

What was that pretentious line McDormand left us with at the Oscars? Something like "my voice is my work and I like swords"?

R128 She was speaking in code and letting us know she has a penis.

OP, I agree with you.

Frances was very attractive and sexy when she was younger. I’m sure she could still put something together if she wanted to.

Frances needs to start something like the ice bucket challenge for Crohn's Disease.

Frances showed her pussy AND shit in a bucket? Did Fran grunt or make farting/shitting noises? All Meryl could muster is a tittie flash in silkwood.

She's a barren woman. One child and he's ADOPTED!!!!! No wonder she's so crabby.

[quote] Frances showed her pussy

That was once scene in Nomadland we did not need to see.

False, OP!!!!! Frances McDormand plays the same character most of the time except for Fargo. She has very little range. Meryl, OTOH, can play anything including old men speaking Yiddish. Cate Blanchett is also better than Frances.

Frances is superb within her range. If she really wanted to show more she should now play characters which Really depart from the types she's been playing these last few years.

Frances McDormand is a bitter actress than Meryl Streep

I just tried to watch Nomadland. My God what a boring and depressing film. It will not age well at all. I turned it off after she shit in a bucket the second time. Completely pointless pseudo documentary.

Does she really shit in a bucket?

[quote]Frances McDormand plays the same character most of the time except for Fargo.

She was also Dot in Raising Arizona.

She can do comedy, dark comedy, film noir, drama.

Streep and Blanchett are more "chameleon"-like, but that doesn't necessarily make them better actors. They're also both very mannered, theatrical and can come across as hallow. McDormand has a rawness that you just can't replicate.

At 64, she also has a better filmography than Streep.

All you have to do is watch Sophie's Choice and 'nuff said. Best movie moment EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is not that good of an actress. She is one of Harvey's girl. I will not be surprised if Harvey comes to her whenever he wants to enjoy a ripe fruit.

Absolutely. If I were a writer for film, I would write with Frances McDormand in mind.

In "Olive Kitteridge" she has a scene where her character spots a young man for whom she has a genuine fondness (unlike, say, her own son and the rest of humanity.) She is happy to see him and then, just as quickly, realizes that she may have interrupted his plan for a suicide. It's one of my favorite scenes by any actor.

She's not an actress you can put in any role, I realize, but neither is Streep, nor anyone that I know of. And if she plays characters within a similar range or vein, she does it well enough that I always enjoy watching even if the character herself is not appealing.

Even in a film like "Wonder Boys" where her role is role is very much secondary and not so well developed in dialogue, she makes it an important role without robbing anyone else of their's, in fact she very much contributes to the whole.

Frances can only play "scrappy" and I'm tired of it.

Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett are superior to Frances in terms of range. Meryl's brief turn as an old Jewish man was amazing. Cate played Bob Dylan. I've seen Meryl play a cold hearted, vicious, wealthy Texas Republican, and I believed her character. Look. They all have an authenticity about them that is remarkable. But Frances is a "type" and the other two aren't. And if you want to name the greatest of all time, please put Kate Winslet in the mix. I think Frances in real life is a little bit eccentric and fragile.

[quote]I've seen Meryl play a cold hearted, vicious, wealthy Texas Republican, and I believed her character.

Her character was from Virginia and she was camp.

McDormand has no range and she acts out of an "on the spectrum" schtick.

Can't watch her.

[quote]Has she done a bunch of accents tho?

McDormand made an attempt to play a German Jew opposite Glenn Close and Cate Blanchett in Paradise Road. It wasn't a happy experience.

[quote]Has she done a bunch of accents tho?

McDormand made an attempt to play a German Jew opposite Glenn Close and Cate Blanchett in Paradise Road. It wasn't a happy experience.

I can’t stand Streep and the middle of the road dreck she stars in. She has her pick of roles and if you look at her filmography, it is very underwhelming. Many actors in and around Meryl’s age range are better actors than she is: Close, Sarandon, Mirren, McDormand, Kathy Bates.....

Vivian Vance, you cunt.

Frances McDormand is tiresome and ugly. I can't watch her anymore.

They’re both excellent in their own way and you can’t compare them.

Meryl is a very good comedic actress as well.

[quote]And you think Streep pulled off Momma Mia?

A billion dollars and a sequel later? Ahhh yeah. And Franny couldn't pull this off either.

Just because you can't pull off a German accent, R149, doesn't mean an actress can't be one of the greats.

Just ask any Kate Jackson fan on DL! lmao

[quote]Just because you can't pull off a German accent, [R149], doesn't mean an actress can't be one of the greats.

Frances McDormand is one of the greats, but she isn't a chameleon in the way that Meryl, Glenn or Cate are. She can't disappear into a role and her performances are often similar - 3 Billboards, Olive Kitteridge and Nomadland as an example.

Frances almost always looks and acts mean, aside from her utterly charming work in Fargo.

I think being a chameleon is overweighed in how we value actors. I think it's a great skill, but it doesn't place one necessarily above other actors who doesn't possess that ability.

What I find with chameleon-like actors (Meh, Cate, DDL) is that they can also be overly mannered and hammy. Their technical skills are so superior, it's at the expense of freshness and rawness that we see in other performances from non-chameleon-like actors--which I think Frances McDormand possesses. So, her performances may "blend," but there is a realism to her some of characterisations that I don't find find in the more mannered, chameleon-like actors.

Pauline Kael wasn't a big fan of Meryl. It's been decades since I read her reviews, but I think she made a comparison between Streep and Winger sometime back around Officer and a Gentleman and Sophie's Choice. I think she articulated better what I'm trying to say, but it was something to the effect of being able to watch all the mechanisms inside of Streep's head move and that her performances were so pre-determined and automaton-like. With Winger, there was surprise and a rawness that was exciting and had a spark. While I think Kael was overly harsh when it came to Streep, I do think she had a point.

And I do think when the average person thinks of great acting, they tend to go to the more technically-capable actors over the ones that are more dynamic and less refined.

At any rate, McDormand's Dot in Raising Arizona is comic genius. She takes a one-dimensional character and seemingly gives a one-dimensional comedic performance, but if you look closer, there is an underlining tension and mistrustfulness that works so well after we don't see her again and her husband does all of her bidding. And, of course, it's much different from her comedic turn as Marge Gunderson. McDormand might not be a "technical" actor in the sense that she can do a lot of accents, but you can plug her into a lot of different genres, as well as place her characters in various socioeconomic settings, and she plays the roles quite convincingly. I think that's versatile.

People tend to write her off as giving the same performance without familiarising themselves with the breath of work, which I'm thinking about doing now actually.

I did that with Annette Bening. A lot of people write her off as "that actress who can play a shrew" all because of American Beauty. She's another one who isn't known for her accents or ability to be a chameleon. I went through her entire filmography last year, and her range is kind of breathtaking.

[quote]I think being a chameleon is overweighed in how we value actors

Definitely. Is there anything more Oscar-bait than an actor playing a famous person alive or alive within living memory? Jamie Foxx in Ray; Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Angela Bassett in What's Love Got to Do with It? etc. The prosthetics and wigs and makeup and period sets and accents and posture and gestures...it all conspires to easy praise popular praise ("Nailed it!") and a mix of nostalgia and biographical praise or reexamination and performances that are admired for technique, a perceived "perfect Polish accent," etc. It's a ticket for a fairly lightweight film to be treated as great art, and mimicry and makeup and good acting as stunningly great acting.

An actor who can do accents or voices or change his physical presence from a run of strong action films to something complicated and vulnerable, it's more often than not about weighing expectations of the the actor against the result rather than looking first at the result. Grading on a curve always rewards effort and perceived level of difficulty for that particular actor far more than it recognizes a great performance in its own right.

I love McDormand in Friends With Money. Not exactly an Oscar worthy role but she does so much with it. Scary and hilarious at the same time.

Click, click, click

Never heard of the McDormand woman.

F, is that G with you?

Don't call me F.

It is Frances or Fran but not F.

Dustin Hoffman

Frances has a gruff, messy appearance, like a 70’s feminist. I find her the same grouchy woman in almost everything she does.

Streep has more variety and seems genuinely warm and funny.

You can't compare them. Stoppit. Frances comes from a very edgy school of acting. Meryl doesn't. Meryl is classically trained. Yale. It's ridiculous to assign a value to one over the other. It reminds me of the debate among critics and others about the naturalistic acting of a Marlon Brando vs Nigel Hawthorne. Please.

Meryl might be more versatile but I find a level of authenticity in Frances' work that's never there in Meryl's.

In 1982, McDormand earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale School of Drama.

Sorry OP. I like Frances, but I love Meryl.

Thanks R170, I didn't know that. I guess what I was trying to say is that Frances has a raw edgy style that reminds me of the Actors Studio guys, the naturalistic vs. Meryl, who seems more from the classically trained school. It's a style thing.

R172 they both went to Yale

Jean Smart would have some Oscars on her mantle if she had been given a shot at McDormand's roles. Would have loved to see Smart in 3 Billboards.

172 Gee, I wouldn't have thought Frances could even read.

At least Meryl washes her hair and doesn't look like a psychotic bag lady in public.

I wish Muriel would give us "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" icons.....

Frances will be starring as Lady Macbeth in The Tragedy of Macbeth directed by Joel Coen, and starring Denzel Washington opening on December 25th in theaters. I cannot wait.

Isn’t it filmed in black and white and using actual Shakespeare text? I will pass.

I saw the trailer and I can't wait.. I saw the one with Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender a few years ago. Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.

Just a warm and fuzzy family Christmas picture.

I guess they are hoping Frances wins her 4th best actress Oscar. It didn’t play in any film festivals so far, so I have a feeling it’s too artsy.

I don't think they have anything in common beyond their genitalia. It's stupid to compare them. Frances call play a regular person and make it compelling. Streep, as many people have said, is more of a showboating actor. Accents, mannerisms etc. Gillian Anderson did a more complicated version of Thatcher.

What? Gillian’s Thatcher was terrible.

In what way r184? I'm curious to hear why you think that. I thought her Thatcher come across as a real person while also nailing the mannerisms. I managed to feel bad for her during the episode where she visited Balmoral. Anderson made Thatcher look like a real person. Streep did an accent.

[quote] Gillian’s Thatcher was terrible.

Yeah, well The Emmys and Golden Globes don't agree with you.

Honestly, Jean Smart would have been better in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY than Streep. Actually, Smart would have been terrific. McDormand would have been too young as she is almost a decade younger than Streep.

I was mixed about Anderson's Thatcher at first, but she really grew on me. There's a trio of British TV films about Thatcher with three actresses playing her at various points in her life (Andrea Riseborough, Patricia Hodge, and Lindsey Duncan) which I've never seen. Can any here comment on them?

What does it say that actresses won Oscars or Emmys for playing reactionary hero Margaret Thatcher?