I read this quote regarding Meryl Streep's latest work:



"Once and for all: Meryl Streep wants everyone to know she is not playing Sen. Hillary Clinton in Jonathan Demme's new flick, "The Manchurian Candidate."



"I based the character on men, all of it," the Oscar-winner told us Monday night. "I mean, I thought about a lot of women, but trust me, none of them are blond women senators from New York who are liberal." Okay?"



From what I've seen of the promo materials, she's playing it in Hillary clothes with a Hillary haircut, yet denying she ever looked to her for any kind of inspiration. Makes no sense - why make those constuming choices then?



She says something more in this story:



"However, Streep did admit that her performance was based on a public figure - but not one that has so far been recognised. "I think I'm doing a dead-on imitation of this person," she said teasingly. 'But no one's got it.'"



So . . . any opinions? Did she imitate Hillary and is now regretting/downplaying that decision? Is it someone else? If so, who? Man or a woman?



There are photos of Streep in the role here, the trailer here.



Bonus points: Streep seems to imply that the comparison is some odd plot to "get" Hillary: "Streep said she viewed one Internet story about her Manchurian performance as part of an insidious attack on Clinton. 'I thought: "Oh my god. So this is how they get Hillary." This is so far from Hillary Clinton.'" So is it a valid critique that the studio is denying, or is the story planted as insidious attack on Clinton? Or did Streep do the imitation in order to plant the story herself in order to attack the Republicans for supposedly planting the story about Clinton? Yikes, don't go any further with the conspiracy theory - it will seriously make your head spin. It's Friday, we don't want to sprain the brain.