The queen of cinema is in Oviedo to become a princess. Meryl Streep, considered the best actress in the world, will tomorrow receive the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts from Princess Eleonor in a ceremony to be held at the Campoamor theater in Oviedo. Along with the rest of the award winners, among whom is the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, the protagonist of Memories of Africa will take the stage, as she has done so many times since her beginnings in acting five decades ago.
Meryl Streep (74) is the attraction of this edition of the awards, with her participation in a series of events prior to the award ceremony, which have filled the auditoriums with admirers where she has spoken about her work and, above all, how his passion for conveying feelings and truth has elevated him to the Olympus of the gods without losing the meaning of life.
The Asturians, always ready to welcome the award-winning personalities, have gone overboard with the actress and vice versa. Last night, only 2,000 of the 167,000 people who registered were able to access the auditorium of the Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses in Oviedo (Santiago Calatrava’s work, as emblematic as it was affected by construction errors) to attend a talk in which, under the title Sin script, Antonio Banderas acted as a link between the actress and the public. The complicity between the two actors made possible the review that Streep made of her life and her work, at all times close and grateful for the displays of affection. “I feel like Taylor Swift,” she said after being greeted with a standing ovation from the audience. The artist with the most Oscar nominations explained her beginnings in amateur theater and assured that she did not feel at home in the world of celebrities, despite being one of the most famous women in the world.
The actress arrived on Tuesday at Asturias airport on a private flight from New York, with a small group of assistants and her brother Harry William III, who as a young man wanted to be a dancer and in the He is currently an art teacher in a public school. The official welcome took place yesterday morning when he left the doors of the Reconquista Hotel, where he is staying, home of the pre-award ceremonies, to fulfill the ritual of photos and tribute of the pipers Several hundred people were waiting for her outside the hotel, who greeted her with applause and chanted her name. Next door, the piper group El Gumial played the soundtrack with a rhythm that the protagonist of Mamma mia (the film in which she sings and dances) continued, first with her feet, and then by moving the rest of her body. The American actress, accompanied by Teresa Sanjurjo, director of the Princess of Asturias Foundation, seemed enchanted by the music and the typical costumes of the pipers and while dancing she kept blowing kisses to the waiting audience and applauded
With thick glasses, blonde hair loose and dressed in a red and black frog, black jacket and flat shoes, the actress who creates enormous characters on screen is, in person, a petite woman, not very tall and thin. For the meeting with Banderas she wore a simple ensemble of black blouse and pants with a white top.
After the official reception, the actress went to the old Fábrica de Armas de La Vega, in Oviedo, where she held a meeting with teachers and students from 3rd and 4th ESO, high school and professional training. In addition, during the awards week, an exhibition has been opened in the old premises in honor of the award winners, which, in the case of Meryl, results in the reproduction of some of the iconic elements of her most famous films. famous: the red heeled shoe from The Devil Wears Prada, the van from The Bridges of Madison and the plane and safari camp from Memories of Africa.
In front of more than five hundred students, the actress listened attentively to the result of the work in which thirty educational centers in Asturias have intervened. The topic was Meryl’s Decision and consisted of offering alternative arguments to the actress’s most representative films. One of the works recommended changing the script of The Bridges of Madison so that the main character, Francesca, did not have to choose between her husband or her lover, but to break free and live her own life. Meryl agreed with the change of plot and described it as “brilliantly feminist”.
In all her appearances, the actress, with no other conditions than to avoid selfies and autographs, was close and apparently bewildered by the applause and displays of affection with which she was received. He had no problem confessing that, despite the intensity of his roles, all the characters stay on set when he returns home after filming. Acting, he said, “is a wonderful way to live, but I have never lost sight of who I am.” “In real life there are real reasons to live”.
Of his films, the one he likes least (“I hate it”, he said verbatim) is La muerte os sienta tan bien, because the technical conditions overcame it. “What I really like is getting lost in each role, getting involved in each story.” When asked about her criteria when selecting roles, Meryl Streep said that to accept a job she needs, at some point during the reading of the script, to feel a pinch in her heart.
Throughout her talks, Meryl Streep made some allusions to her age (she turned 74 in June). “My mother, how old I am”, he said several times, but then he added: “What changes is the outside, at heart I am still 16 years old”.
The actress included in her words a thank you to the Princess of Asturias Foundation and said that she felt very honored by an award that “I have received on behalf of all the actors and actresses”. In addition, he showed his satisfaction to share it, on this occasion, with “heroes” who are dedicated to saving lives. “When I see the people who have won the award, I want to pack my bags and go home.” He will not be leaving until Saturday, he still has a talk this afternoon at the School of Dramatic Art, in Gijón, where he will meet with the students, who will perform, in his honor, Spanish theater scenes. And tomorrow, the big day, when the queen of cinema will add to her three Oscars and numerous awards what will make her Princess of Asturias of the Arts.
