Chatting w/ Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, & Mamie Gummer! @RickiMovie #RickiandtheFlash

We previewed Ricki and the Flash, starring the above folks: Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, and Mamie Gummer, the day before we were privileged enough to be in a small room interviewing them. It was a great experience, they were all so chatty and forthcoming about themselves and the film!

Rick Springfield starting everything off by popping in early and taking photos with all the bloggers. We appreciated that generosity of spirit, he also took one of the prop guitars in the room and started strumming right in front of us! It was an incredible moment (see below for my Periscope of that)!

Rick shared that the guitar used in the movie was the one he bought when he was 21 and that he used it to compose “Jessie’s Girl.” Wow. Over 30 years old and this guitar was showcased in this movie! That was an incredible piece of trivia for all of us! And all on the 33rd Anniversary of when that song hit #1! Rick’s message to us was, Do Not Throw Anything Away! He also added, that when you are acting opposite Meryl Streep, you must bring your “A” game!

I asked Meryl how it was to play a mom who was clearly the opposite type of mom she was and is. She said she welcomed the opportunity to be able to act, to hone her craft, to portray this woman who left her three children to try to pursue a music career. Ms. Streep shared how she turned down a role in Ragtime because she had just gotten pregnant. Her priorities were clearly different than Ricki Randazzo’s in the film! Ms. Streep said playing someone so opposite was almost therapeutic for her, to understand the reasons for the decisions other people make in various situations. She said it is the essence of acting to play someone so different. The pain in this actress’s face, when playing this character trying to help her soon to be divorced daughter, whom she had abandoned as a child, was palpable and at times brought many of us to tears.

Meryl Streep also pointed out a lot of interesting back story possibilities. I was lead to believe by the movie that Ricki left her family to try to become a successful musician. Meryl asked, couldn’t the husband (Kevin Kline, someone who Meryl Streep has known for many decades and acted in movies with many times) have relocated for the wife to support this musical desire? His investment banking business did not seem to be one that would cause him to be unable to relocate. How quickly did wife number two appear on the scene? I loved the idea that perhaps another woman (played by Audra McDonald!) was not so far in the distance at the time of this movie’s marriage breaking up! These are the mysteries that we will never know, and perhaps my immediate judgements about Ricki Randazzo are not 100% correct.

Meryl did add that when you learn to stop saying you are sorry, it is freeing. That was the path this character was able to take.

How was it to work with your famous mom? How was it to portray a mother and daughter with your actual mom? How was it to make a movie with someone so famous? These are all the questions we did not ask Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep’s real life daughter, and movie daughter, because they have already been asked too many times. We mommy and dad bloggers try to make the interviews less mundane than the regular press!

The one item that I did read before these interviews was that Director Jonathan Demme did not let Mamie and Meryl hang out between scenes, he did not want them to have any opportunities to break character. We did ask Mamie how it was to grow up “in the spotlight.” She actually didn’t grow up in the spotlight, she shared. Meryl and her husband worked hard for their four kids to stay away from their famous mom’s spotlight. Then Mama Streep stated, “Mamie grew up in her own spotlight!” How great to see Meryl Streep turn into a typical parent praising her kid!

Lastly, the story about the music was very interesting to hear. Meryl had to learn guitar! You couldn’t tell from the film that she hadn’t been playing her whole life. Director Jonathan Demme was not let in on their rehearsals as a group , the rest of whom are musician legends, Bernie Worrell, Rick Rosas, and Joe Vitale. We also had gone to dinner the night before, after we previewed the movie, and heard a band where the singer had met Meryl Streep at a concert while Meryl was doing research for this role. Meryl does a lot of research, she listened and watched several cover bands to be as authentic as possible for this role. And, Ricki and the Flash, performed all of their songs live during photography!

My full review comes out Friday, when the movie opens in theaters, August 7th!

For more information visit Ricki and the Flash!

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Disclsure: I attended a preview and interviews to facilitate this article. All opinions are always 100% honest and my own.

And here is Rick Springfield strumming away on one of the prop guitars and chatting away with us before the interview: