Meryl Streep Just Named the Actress So Good She Might Retire

So, Meryl Streep – yes, the Meryl Streep, as in the three-time Oscar winner whose name is basically shorthand for 'acting genius' – is out on the promo circuit for The Devil Wears Prada 2. And, in a turn that’s equal parts honest and utterly baffling, she’s going around saying she actually doesn’t know how acting works. If you’re expecting smugness from someone of her standing, you’ll be disappointed. She’s a bit more 'how on earth do other people manage it?' than 'let me share my wisdom'.

Meryl on Laurie Metcalf: 'What an artist'

During a chat with PEOPLE, Streep gave a heap of praise to Laurie Metcalf – specifically, for her work in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. Asked about her own process, Streep shrugged it off: 'I don’t know how to act. I don’t know how to do it. I don’t know how people do it.' You wouldn't find Daniel Day-Lewis coming out with that sort of talk.

She’d evidently been to see Salesman the night before the interview, and Metcalf's turn in it knocked Streep for six. Her reaction was straight out with it: 'I can’t believe Laurie Metcalf just blew my mind… all of them! I thought, "Well, I better just retire, because I don’t know how she did that. What an artist."' Not exactly the words we expect from someone who played Miranda Priestly and Julia Child.

How Streep Actually Prepares (Sort Of)

Turns out, Streep doesn't go in for any mystical method acting. She explains her approach almost as if she's making a recipe up as she goes along: 'You sort of feel and listen and pick it up as you go along. I don’t have a method. But you have a feeling you know what you need to do.' Spoken like someone who's quietly been the best actor in any given room for forty years.

The Devil Wears Prada: Set Misery & Knitting

Interestingly, she also dished on what it was actually like prepping for her famous role as Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada. Apparently, she gave the old 'stay in character' tactic a go, which mostly involved trying (with limited success) to intimidate the cast between scenes. Apparently, the others weren't bothered in the slightest, which forced her to change tack. Her words:

'At first I hung around on-set, and then [in a scene] I’d try to intimidate them. And they didn’t have it, and so I thought, "Oh, okay. I’ve got to step back." It was really a conscious thing. So I went back to my trailer, and I knitted a lot and seethed. I don’t know if it helped them, but it helped me.'

You’d expect something dramatic… instead, we get Meryl in a trailer, fuming quietly and doing a spot of knitting. Frankly, that’s the most British bit of method acting I’ve ever heard.