Meryl Streep in her impersonation of characters, "subsuming herself into them, rather than personifying them". In her early roles such as "Manhattan" and "Kramer vs. Kramer", she was compared to both Diane Keaton and Jill Clayburgh, in that her characters were unsympathetic, which Streep has attributed to the tendency to be drawn to playing women who are difficult to like and lack empathy. Streep has stated that many consider her to be a technical actor, but she professed that it comes down to her love of reading the initial script, adding, "I come ready and I don't want to screw around and
Meryl Streep in the 2000s ensemble piece featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson, and Lindsay Lohan, the film revolves around the behind-the-scenes activities at a long-running public radio show which is nearing its cancellation, depicting the show's final broadcast. Streep, initially unsure about the gestalt of the movie due to its genre-crossing nature, noted it "an odd little creature". In the film, she, along with Lily Tomlin, portrayed one half of a sister duo which was once part of a popular family country music act. Required to perform her own vocals in the film, Altman decided to cast Streep without any vocal audition.