Even if it costs you.
Even if it means losing friends.
Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
Credit: Niko Tavernise/Twentieth Century Fox
That seems like a duo we shouldve seen together onscreen already, right?
A different owner and editor might have altered history.MERYL STREEP:Yes, who controls the press?
And it also shows how the press is just a collection of individuals.
Niko Tavernise/Fox
Ben, and certainly Katharine, had so much to lose in this very intense moment in time.
Thats where your courage is found.
TOM HANKS:And your friendships are tested as well.
Niko Tavernise/Twentieth Century Fox
But technically youre going to be threatening the basic connections you might have in your life.
HANKS:Yeah, yes, through Nora and through Mike [Nichols].
Mike was always talking about you and we ended up friends as parts of a bigger group.
Its a West Coast/East Coast kind of thing.
STREEP:Hes too young for me.
HANKS:Ah, hey,Ihave gray in my hair.
I knew I would have fun but I really didnt know how on-my-toes Id have to be.
HANKS:Oh, kindly.
STREEP:Hes so smart and hes so …
HANKS:[Groans]
STREEP:Youare!
You were the natural leader of this movie, you really were.
HANKS:Well, I had to beBen Bradlee.
STREEP:That was important.
But you have that, you have that ability.
This new opening [set in Vietnam] show the flesh and blood cost of lives.
So its not just about papers, its about people.
Thats part of the juju that [Washington, D.C.] runs on and certainly in the media.
But putting a magnifying glass on the present day, were really talking about constitutional issues here.
Trying to stop the publication of any newspaper is, you know, thats taking on the First Amendment.
STREEP:Its a constant fight.
I expected the movie to show us Katharine Graham as the ultimate powerhouse publisher.
But we see a very uncertain side of this groundbreaking woman.
Was Katharine Graham a surprise to you, Meryl?STREEP:She was.
Partly it was how she got there, the circumstances under which she took control of The Post.
But she never lost that.
She still had knocking knees.
I dont think she ever lost that shakiness.
But then something great is called forth from you when much is expected.
She became the head of thePost.
All the voices coming from every extension in her house.
Its just like the furies screaming in her brain.
HANKS:I think that scenes amazing.
Some people are saying, You absolutely must not do this, its a disaster.
Somebody else is saying, Well, I wouldnt do it, I would vote not to do it.
Now, how does anybody face that moment?
And that is a true thing that happened.
They loved the work, and they loved each other in a way that wasnt romantic.
This was almost like a template for whats possible for people.
Their relationship and the respect that underlay it was really wonderful and exemplary.
But the relationship was not always easy, and we see some of that, too.
STREEP:Yeah, and it hurt her feelings.
She was his boss and this was a little piece that he tended to forget.
In that time it was a really transitional time for women.
Therewerentwomen bosses, and men were not used to it and they chaffed a little bit under that.
She had to have strategies for how to manage the egos.
Women who watch this will recognize the tactics you have to use to manage it all.
Meryl, did you feel at all like Katharine coming into this movie?
Tom and Steven had worked together so many times before.
Its a mostly male cast.
The crew has all worked together before …STREEP:Yeah, that wasgood.
That helped me, that feeling of … that insecurity, you know?
I mean,theydidnt make me feel that way at all.
And I never knew really how just free he is as a director on set.
Its like a great jazz improvisation.
HANKS:Yeah, it truly is.
HANKS:And its fast.
Its always getting better.
Youre always going for something.
Everybody plays their instruments extremely well.
There is a reason he assembled the band.
He says, I always haveshpilkes.
Do you feel that, Tom?
You dontseemlike you feel that.
HANKS:Oh, its all a horror.
Whatever we do on any given day is going to live for the rest of our lives.
So were going to have this as the record of what our union and what our efforts were.
But if you start worrying about that, my God, youll never get anything done.
You wont even come to work in the morning.
STREEP:Thats right.
But it was exciting to come to work.
I love that about Steven, that he says, I love being a giddy kid with you.
