Meryl Streep Takes on Role of World's Worst Singer in 'Florence Foster Jenkins'
"Florence Foster Jenkins" hits theaters Aug. 12.
-- Meryl Streep is taking on the role of the world's worst singer.
Streep stopped by "Good Morning America" today and revealed what it was like portraying the lead character in "Florence Foster Jenkins," the true story of the woman who had very poor singing ability.
"To sing badly? Surprisingly easy, sadly," Streep said, laughing. "No, it was great fun. She was very specific in how she sang."
She added: "[Florence] was a woman who just loved music and she gave lots of money away to the symphony and all sorts of musical enterprises in the city, so people kind of, what's the word, sucked up to her a little bit. She was encouraged in her pursuit of music. She was like a lot of people in an audience who basically would love to be on stage, but she had the money to do it."
Hugh Grant also stars in the movie and plays the husband of Streep’s character.
The actors recreated the 1944 scene from Carnegie Hall, where tickets sold out weeks in advance just so audience members could hear Florence's questionable vocals firsthand.
"We had 500 unsuspecting extras there and I thought we should just go out and do a concert because that reaction would never be the same," Streep said. "Those reactions in the movie are actual, honest reactions."
"Florence Foster Jenkins" hits theaters Aug. 12.