Oscar-winning actress was considered “too ugly” to star in King Kong movie
JESSICA Lange stars opposite Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin as Dwan in the 1976 classic – but she wasn’t the only A-Lister who auditioned for the part.
A major movie star and Oscar-winner auditioned for the role when she was still relatively unknown but was turned down by the movie’s producer, who deemed her “too ugly.”
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show back in 2015, Academy Award-winning star Meryl Streep revealed that she went in to audition for Dwan in King Kong but missed out on the part because the film’s producer Dino De Laurentiis felt that she wasn’t pretty enough for the part.
Meryl was still in the early stages of her career when casting decisions for the 1976 film were being made. She was working in the theatre at the time and Dino’s son has seen one of her performances.
Impressed, he invited her to come and meet with his father for the role of Dwan.
“He had this amazing office that looked all over Manhattan,” she explained to show host Graham Norton.
Meryl continued: “I walked in and his son was sitting there, very excited that he’d brought in this new actress. And the father said to his son in Italian, because I understand Italian, he said, ‘che brutta’, you know, ‘why do you bring me this ugly thing?’”
She admitted that hearing those words was “very sobering as a young girl.”
However, as she was able to speak Italian, Meryl was able to get in a quick response and spare herself any further embarrassment.
She responded to him in Italian “I said to him… ‘I understand what you’re saying, I’m sorry I’m not beautiful enough to be in King Kong,’” Meryl explained, recalled how she snapped back at the producer.
And, ultimately, the Mamma Mia! star had the last laugh.
The irony of Dino’s decision – and the fact that Meryl has gone on to become the recipient of the most Academy Award nominations of all time – was not lost on host Graham, who acknowledged her “vast” career success and achievements to date.
The role of Dwan ended up going to fellow Academy Award winner and American Horror Story star Jessica.
Meryl learned a very important life lesson about not putting too much emphasis on your looks and appearance.
“For young women, I would say, don’t worry so much about your weight,” she advised a group of graduating students at Indiana University Bloomington in 2014.
“Girls spend way too much time thinking about that, and there are better things. For young men and women too, what makes you different or weird, that’s your strength… I used to hate my nose. Now I don’t. It’s OK.”
Meryl Streep's career highlights
Meryl Streep has impressed the world on the big screen more times than we can count during her decades long career - but we're going to try. Take a look at her biggest career highlights and award wins and nominations below...
Meryl Streep holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated 21 times—17 for Best Actress, and four for Best Supporting Actress—since the first nomination in 1978 for her performance in The Deer Hunter.
Best Supporting Actress nominations:
- The Deer Hunter (1979)
- Kramer vs. Kramer (1980) – won
- Adaptation (2003)
- into the Woods (2015)
Best Actress nominations:
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1982)
- Sophie’s Choice (1983) – won
- Silkwood (1984)
- Out of Africa (1986)
- Ironweed (1988)
- A Cry in the Dark (1989)
- Postcards from the Edge (1991)
- The Bridges of Madison County (1996)
- One True Thing (1999)
- Music of the Heart (2000)The Devil Wears Prada (2007)
- Doubt (2009)
- Julie & Julia (2010)
- The Iron Lady (2012) – won
- August: Osage County (2014)
- Florence Foster Jenkins (2017)
- The Post (2018)
Meryl has wowed in almost everything she’s ever turned her hand to and she can happily boast a handful of career-defining roles. The are her top five:
- Kramer vs. Kramer – Despite losing out on a the role of Dwan in King Kong, Meryl’s career started out strong. She got her first Oscar win playing neglected wife and mother Joanna Kramer in the 1979 classic Kramer vs. Kramer.
- Out of Africa – Portraying Baroness Karen von Blixen in Out of Africa in 1985 truly cements her name in Hollywood and is one of her biggest commercial successes from the 1980s.
- Mamma Mia! – Donna and the Dynamos – aka Meryl Streep, Christine Barinski and Julie Walters, need we say more? There’s a reason this is a fan-favourite musical.
- The Devil Wears Prada – Meryl’s turn as the formidable Vogue Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestley is one of her most notable – and most quotable – performances of her career.
- The Iron Lady – She bagged herself another Best Actress Oscar win for portraying Britain’s first ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Academy Awards are not the only nominations Meryl has racked up, either. She also became the most-nominated performer in the Golden Globe Awards history when her Best Actress nominations for Doubt and Mamma Mia! gave her 23 in total, surpassing Jack Lemmon’s previous record of 22. Three years later, she garnered her eighth win (more than any other actor) for The Iron Lady.