Meryl Streep and Taylor Swift and their fellow cast mates promoted "The Giver" during a press conference at JW Marriott Essex House on Tuesday (August 12) in New York City. The two were joined by actors Katie Holmes, Jeff Bridges, Odeya Rush, Cameron Monaghan, Emma Tremblay, Brenton Thwaites, author Lois Lowry, director Phillip Noyce and more.
With the films incredible cast, the question on every ones mind is how did they get involved with the film? For Streep it came down to two simple things: who her co-stars would be and how much fun she could have with the role. For the first, when she learned Jeff Bridges would be her co-star she immediately came on board.
“I’d always wanted to work with this gentleman my entire career,” she said, pointing to Bridges, “but I never got the chance. Somehow he eluded me. So that was a big, big part of the draw.”
Streep also spoke at the conference of her role in the film as the Chief Elder who is the ruler of the entire community and the enforcer of "sameness." While she has played powerful women before, it is rare to see her transformed into an obvious villainous and complicated character.
“Well, I like to be boss,” said Streep. “It’s an interesting thing to play people who have suppressed emotion,” she said at the conference, laughing as she added, “I felt that the Chief Elder didn’t take her medication as well on certain days… I think that’s the point of the book — you can’t keep things in, you can’t suppress the things that make us human, and it’s pointless to try.”
Surprisingly none of the younger actors in the film, with the exception of Taylor Swift, actually read or even heard of Lois Lowry's novel before taking the role. Swift recalls reading "The Giver" in grade school saying it changed her perspective of the world and her surroundings drastically.
“It celebrates all the things I hold really dear … ” Swift said, “like our history, our music, our art, our intellect and our memories.”
Swift also spoke of the value of the films message relating it to real life and her fans.
“I’m seeing so many fans write to me on Instagram and Twitter, or in letters, saying they’re having such a tough time with life,” Swift said. “And the thing that I just wish I could tell them, over and over, is that we live for these fleeting moments of happiness. Happiness is not a constant. It’s something that we only experience glimpses of every once in a while – but it’s worth it. And I think that’s what they’ll take away from this movie.”
"The Giver" opens Friday, Aug. 15.
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