How Does Everybody at the Sophie’s Choice Anniversary Screening Know Meryl?
On February 6, Lanvin presented a 40th-anniversary screening of Sophie’s Choice, hosted by its stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol at the Museum of Modern Art. While it’s technically been 42 years since the 1982 film was released, there’s no wrong time to revisit a classic, and the stars who turned out for the event agreed. The celebration marked the return of Alan Pepe Communications’ retrospective screenings, and Streep, Kline, and MacNicol introduced the film by remembering its late director, Alan J. Pakula. “We’re the only ones still standing … the visionaries who birthed Sophie’s Choice are not,” Streep said.
Following the screening, which Streep remained in the auditorium for, attendees crossed the street for a cocktail party at the Baccarat Hotel, where everybody patiently waited their turn for a moment with Streep, who was so busy holding court that she barely had time to eat her slider. As the room filled with A-listers, I couldn’t help but wonder what everybody’s connection to Streep was — apart from the obvious (being fans of Mamma Mia). Were they in a movie together? A television show? Did they know a Gummer? Let’s run down the list of famous attendees, playing a game of Six Degrees of Meryl Streep to take our best guess at how these famous people all know one another.
Louisa Jacobson
Let’s start with an easy one. Fittingly, given the event, only one Gummer daughter attended the screening. Streep’s youngest child, Louisa, who currently stars on The Gilded Age, showed up to watch her mother in the film that won her her second Oscar. Sure, Mamie and Grace got to go to the Grammys, but this is cool too. It’s safe to assume that Jacobson primarily knows Streep from being her daughter … but they also share a mutual co-worker in Christine Baranski.
Cate Blanchett
Meryl Streep might know Blanchett from some kind of secret Oscar-polishing club, or perhaps they always run into each other at the white-button-up-shirt store. But most recently, the pair starred in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, in which Blanchett played a news anchor and Streep played a Trump-esque president of the United States.
Uma Thurman
Speaking of presidential roles, Thurman attended, fresh off of playing the president in Red, White, and Royal Blue (between that and Streep in Sophie’s Choice, it was a great night for accents). But it’s unlikely the pair met through a shared dialect coach. Rather, Thurman and Streep both starred in the 2005 romantic comedy-drama Prime, in which Thurman unknowingly falls in love with the son of her therapist (Streep).
Ethan Hawke
Also in attendance was Thurman’s ex-husband Hawke, giving me the experience of being Maya Hawke on Thanksgiving. Hawke and Streep haven’t appeared in a movie together, but they did both star in separate productions of The Seagull, Hawke in 1992 and Streep in 2001, so maybe at some point that proved to be a good icebreaker. Plus, Streep’s production of The Seagull also starred Kevin Kline, who would go on to star with Hawke in another theater project, Henry IV, at Lincoln Center in 2003 — so Kline easily could have been Hawke’s in for this event.
Holland Taylor
Taylor also hasn’t appeared in a movie with Streep, but perhaps Sarah Paulson brought her as a plus one to the wrap party for The Post? And who knows, if Reese Witherspoon poaches Streep for The Morning Show the way she did for Big Little Lies, Streep could be on set with Taylor in no time.
Sarita Choudhury
When we’re talking about star quality, Choudhury commands even in a room full of legends. Now known for playing Seema on And Just Like That …, an early role of Choudhury’s was in 1993’s The House of the Spirits alongside Streep. It’s unclear whether she and Jacobson connected over their mutual HBO colleague Cynthia Nixon.
Claire Danes
Danes of course starred in The Hours with Streep in 2002, as well as 2007’s Evening. I can’t wait to see what movie about time they do next.
Gina Gershon
Gershon and Streep haven’t been in a movie together, so I’ll just assume that Streep really loved her as Jughead’s mom on Riverdale. That being said, she did technically film a scene in Don’t Look Up, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Blanchett, that ended up getting cut. So close!
Matthew Modine
Similarly, Modine hasn’t acted alongside Streep, but he and Gershon did star together in Kettle of Fish in 2006. The pieces are falling into place …
Ann Dexter-Jones
Jewelry designer Dexter-Jones is the only non-actor making this list, because she’s the mother of Mark Ronson, who is married to Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer. Plus, Ronson and Streep were co-presenters at the Grammys. They unfortunately did not play “Uptown Funk” at the cocktail party.
Aimee Mullins and Rupert Friend
Mullins starred in an episode of the Apple TV+ anthology series Extrapolations, as did Streep. Though the two appeared in different episodes, it’s fair to imagine they crossed paths at a wrap party or on a red carpet, or connected over the Extrapolations Slack.
Friend is married to Mullins, and while he hasn’t acted with Streep, he did star in the film Separations with her daughter Mamie Gummer. He also reunited with his Homeland co-star Claire Danes at the event.
Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol
Sophie’s Choice … duh.
tags: six degrees of meryl streep, sophie's choice, meryl streep, party report, movies