From Hair to eternity

It won't be a big surprise if Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton get another shot at the golden man with their work in Marvin's Room. As the diametrically opposite sisters Lee and Bessie, they give authentic performances that embody extreme notions of the role of women in society.

Although she originally considered the part of the docile, self-sacrificing Bessie, Streep finally opted for the rebellious spitfire Lee. "Bessie's character is the heart of the film," she says. "But then it was territory in my heart that I understood and had worked on in other things. And Lee wasn't something that I ever tried. She's mad all the time. I just let another side of myself emerge that's always lurking there."

Off screen, though, Streep feels more the Bessie type. "Yes, the caretaker, the oldest daughter. I have four children and a life that pulls me toward the mundane and the real very easily. Although I hate PTA. I tend to get too emotional at the PTA. I'm a wild card. My friends go, `Shh, shh, shh.' Am I a soccer mom? Yes, I am. I don't understand soccer, do you? They all run up, they all run down. I don't know who is playing what. And what is `offside'? Nobody knows."

As for the commercial viability of a film that features a doormat, Streep is optimistic. "It's not usually what you see as the driving force in the cinema. But I thought it was wonderful to celebrate that kind of simple heroics taking place in houses all over the country by women all the time."

Diane Keaton, who plays Bessie, agrees. "I admire the piece because Scott McPherson brought to life something that's always overlooked. I mean, who cares about Bessie? If you saw her on the street you wouldn't look twice. It's testimony to the fact that people can have beautiful lives inside and yet be completely unnoticeable on the outside."

Does Keaton think the character might present an anti-feminist role model for women? "I don't see stories as role models in general. It's not saying that all women should take care of their daddies and forgo the pleasure of being married or a lover or fulfilling yourself. I could never do what Bessie does; obviously, that's not possible for me. I don't think this is a political film; I think it's a film about family."

As for herself, Keaton tends more to the Lee side. An unmarried mother with an adopted child, and a woman who's had love affairs with icons ranging from Warren Beatty to Woody Allen, she began her career in the original production of Hair.

"That was weird," she recalls. "I was just out of acting school and my first job was Hair. I felt so weird because, there I was, and there were all these kids from the street -- they basically hired kids with great voices. I was in the chorus and all this stuff happened. And I didn't get it. We were suddenly embraced by the Women's Wear Daily crowd. The whole tribe was being photographed by Richard Avedon. I was suddenly in this tribe and I was supposed to be hip but I wasn't. When it first opened, the producer gave everybody these free vitamin shots, which were basically speed. And so everybody was getting these shots and being great on stage and out of their minds. And as soon as the show opened, he stopped giving them for free. So everybody paid $50 a shot and got addicted. For a while I took them because I was trying to lose weight. It was crazy. One of the girls had a kid on LSD in the dressing room. I was confused. I didn't like it."

-- Peter Keough