Steven Spielberg thinks Meryl Streep has "no peer" in Hollywood.
Steven Spielberg
The 71-year-old filmmaker directed the multi-time Academy Award winner actress in new drama movie 'The Post' alongside Tom Hanks, and Spielberg has praised Streep, 68, as the "greatest actress" working today.
Speaking to the Metro newspaper, he said: "Meryl is unquestionably the greatest actress working in America today. She has no peer."
The film follows Katharine Graham (Streep) who, as the first female publisher of The Washington Post, relies on the help of editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) to catch up with The New York Times to break the story of the classified Pentagon Papers, which expose the US government's lies about the Vietnam War.
Together they must overcome their differences as they risk their careers to help bring the truths to light, whilst risking the future of the Washington Post newspaper.
And Spielberg admitted he was drawn to the story because of the character of Graham who was the first CEO of one of the Fortune 500 companies - a list which ranks the largest American corporations based on their fiscal year.
He said: "What attracted me to 'The Post' was Katharine Graham.
"Her story, her evolution. In 1971, when this story was told, there were no women CEOs of any of the Fortune 500 companies. Katharine Graham was the first."
Spielberg recently insisted he has already done his job in making the movie and regardless of how it performs, he thinks the film will stand the test of time.
Asked how he'd feel if the movie flops, he said: "It's not about the audience, it's about the process of getting the story told on film. It's not about how it will be received.
"Once I finish the film, I've done what I had to do. If it flopped at the box office, I would feel that it would still be relevant 20 years from now."
Tagged in Tom Hanks Meryl Streep Stephen Spielberg