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'Ricki and the Flash': A look at Meryl Streep's movie musical past

Streep stars in the movie as Ricki, a musician who left her family to pursue her rock and roll dream. 'I don't think I have the nerve to get up in front of people myself and sing but... give me a character and I'll sing,' the actress said.

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Bob Vergara/Sony Pictures/AP
'Ricki and the Flash' stars Meryl Streep.
  • By Marie-Louise Gumuchian Reuters

Multiple Academy Award winner Meryl Streep brings her inner rock star to the screen in "Ricki and the Flash," playing a bar musician who left her family to follow her rock and roll dream.

The Hollywood actress portrays Ricki, who now returns home to help her daughter, Julie, played by Streep's real-life daughter Mamie Gummer, through a tough period.

Streep has sung on camera before in films such as the box office hits “Mamma Mia!” and “Into the Woods,” the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Monitor film critic Peter Rainer wrote of Streep’s performance, in which she played the Witch who is often featured in fairy tales, “[The role is] sung with ravishing zest by Meryl Streep, looking like she’s having the time of her life.”

However, the actress said she only feels confident doing so for the movies.

"They are different, you know. Every character is different, everyone of these times that I've sung, they don't really sound like each other because they are different women," Streep told reporters at the film's premiere on Monday night.

"I don't think I have the nerve to get up in front of people myself and sing but... give me a character and I'll sing."

Streep learned how to play guitar for the film, in which she performs alongside singer and actor Rick Springfield. Springfield also recently appeared on the HBO drama “True Detective.”

"Every weekend this August he's filling stadiums across the country, so I had to really learn how to play and how to earn the right to be on stage with these great musicians," Streep said of Springfield.

The actress came to the premiere in New York with Gummer and the two posed for pictures together.

"I'm doing every movie from now on with my daughters," she joked.

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