Meryl Streep Slams Hollywood's 'Big Tentpole Failures'

As big-budget flops such as Battleship and John Carter tank at the box office, Meryl Streep has some words of advice for Hollywood: Listen to the ladies.

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The three-time Oscar winner, taking the stage at Tuesday's Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in Beverly Hills, said (via VF.com): “In this room, we are very familiar with these dreadful statistics that detail the shocking under-representation of women in our business. Seven to ten percent of directors, producers, writers, and cinematographers [are women] in any given year. This in spite of the fact that in the last five years, five little movies aimed at women have earned over $1.6 billion: The Help, The Iron Lady believe it or not, Bridesmaids, Mamma Mia! and The Devil Wears Prada."

(Yes, three out those five films star Streep, who added another Oscar to her ever-growing pile of awards this year for her leading role in Iron Lady.)

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She continued: "As you can see, their problems were significant because they cost a fraction of what the big tentpole failures cost. … Let’s talk about The Iron Lady. It cost $14 million to make it and brought in $114 million. Pure profit! So why? Why? Don’t they want the money?”

Streep presented a Crystal Award to Viola Davis, a 2012 Oscar nominee for The Help, saying in her introduction: "Alice Walker said that the most common way people give up their power is by thinking that they don’t have any. That’s like [hearing] that women don’t get raises because they don’t ask for them. It’s incredible."

Streep next will be seen on the big screen opposite Tommy Lee Jones in the marriage-themed Hope Springs, helmed by Prada director David Frankel. The movie opens Aug. 10.