Did Meryl Streep Actually Cook In Julie & Julia?
Meryl Streep can do just about anything, and flawlessly so. The Oscar-winning actress can sing, dance, and deliver a withering glare that reaches down into the very soul, as we saw in "The Devil Wears Prada." That said, the question remains, is one of the world's most beloved thespians a master chef along the lines of Julia Child, who she played in the 2009 flick "Julie & Julia?"
The film depicts the lives and struggles of two women living in different times. Julia Child, the famed chef circa 1949, and Julie Powell, living in 2002. In the film and in real life, Powell is a blogger who decided to chronicle her experience as she made everything in Childs' first cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
Childs' cookbook, which remains a staple in the kitchens of serious cooks everywhere, features recipes for French delicacies like boeuf Bourguignon, crêpes Suzette, and even the classic French baguette. So, not exactly the boxed macaroni and cheese that most people can handle.
The insider scoop on Meryl Streep's involvement in the cooking segments
Meryl Streep's performance as Julia Child was uncanny. She fully mastered Child's affluent trans-Atlantic accent and mannerisms as one would expect of the decorated actress. So convincing was her performance, in fact, that Streep fooled most people into thinking that she did all of the cooking, chopping, and such herself. Although the actress did do a fair amount of whisking and stirring while in character, she left the challenging "stunts," so to speak, to the professionals.
In fact, it was a food stylist named Susan Spungen who did the heavy lifting on the trickier recipes. In this Vanity Fair YouTube video, Spungen recalls her experience on the set of the hit movie. "I was the hand double for Meryl Streep in this film, so in the black and white segments those are actually my hands," she says, adding that she's fully outfitted in Streep's shirt and watch while sewing up the duck in the famous recipe for stuffed duck. Later in the video, Spungen adds that they actually had eight completed stuffed ducks on set for the purpose of filming and Spungen further reveals that actress Amy Adams (who played Powell) did a fair amount of cooking. No word if the actresses were able to nosh on any of the cooked food in real life, though. We can only hope so.