“Why’d you bring me this ugly thing?”: Meryl Streep Savagely Shut Down Oscar-Winning Producer Who Called Her Too Ugly for $90M Movie, Went On To Win 3 Oscars Later

The incredibly accomplished, versatile, and astounding actress has one of the most glorious careers of all time in the film industry. Holding the record for the most Oscar nominations (twenty-one!), she has been phenomenal in all roles she has undertaken.

There was no way that the once 26-year-old actress, still to make her big screen debut, would have known the illustrious path that lay ahead for her. The Oscar-winning actress fondly recounted an incident she faced when an Oscar-winning producer called her too ugly to be in his film, right to her face.

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Meryl Streep Was Once Called Too Ugly For King Kong

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Meryl Streep made an appearance on The Graham Norton Show with James McAvoy and Mark Ruffalo back in 2015. The Golden Globes Awardee revealed that there was once a time that she was considered too ugly to star in the famous King Kong. She recounted how Federico De Laurentiis, son of the Oscar-winning producer Dino De Laurentiis, encouraged her to audition for the role of the lead actress in the De Laurentiis’ remake of King Kong. De Laurentiis junior had apparently seen her in a play and was quite smitten by her excellent acting.

“His son had seen me in a play and so I went up to the top of the Gulf and Western building that like the 33rd floor and he had this amazing office that looked all over Manhattan. He was back there and I walked in and his son was sitting there very excited that he brought in this new actress and the father said to his son in Italian because I understand ‘che brutta’, you know why do you bring me this ugly thing.”

Any other young actress might have backed down or even given up acting altogether after being called ugly right to her face, but not Meryl Streep. Also Read: You get Meryl on the set: Meryl Streep Nearly Became Sylvester Stallone’s Daughter in Sequel to $159 Million Sci-Fi Movie

Meryl Streep’s Savage Reply To Dino De Laurentiis

Call it Meryl Streep’s luck or Dino De Laurentiis‘s misfortune that the Yale Graduated actress understood the rude remark De Laurentiis had just made against her. However, given the nature of the remark, the actress did not back down but savagely retorted back to the legendary producer in Italian.

“So I said to him… I understand what you’re saying, I am sorry I am not beautiful enough to be in King Kong.” 

Well, imagine the shock and regret Dino De Laurentiis might have felt when Streep set the record for the most Academy Awards nominations as well as being among the handful of individuals nominated for Triple Crown of acting as well as EGOT. She later on also won 3 Oscars, among countless awards. You can stream King Kong on Amazon Prime. Source: The Graham Norton Show | YouTube