With more than forty years of experience and four Oscars between them, Hollywood legends Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are coming together for the first time in the highly anticipated Hope Springs, a film about the often taboo subject of mid-life sexuality and a couple embarking on an entertaining yet poignant adventure to regain their sexual passion.
In an exclusive interview for the August/September issue of AARP The Magazine, the indomitable icons speak about their upcoming project, their newly discovered passions, finally learning to live for the moment, and why “nobody can tell [them] anything.”
On being “bored” in a relationship:
Streep: “If you’re bored with somebody, it’s because you’re bored with yourself. If you have a problem with somebody, often it’s something in yourself.”
Jones: “I always told my children when they whined….Only the boring are bored.”
On finding passion at any age:
Streep: “I find the older I get, the more intense my appetite for living and for appreciating life gets…You realize you’ve got just seconds.”
Jones: “I don’t do anything that is not fun. I just don’t do it. I’m a hedonist.”
On making marriage work:
Streep: “You live through all sorts of stuff when you’re in a long marriage: real highs and lows, and things that strain—and solidify—your relationship.”
On their fellow sexegenarians:
Streep: “I don’t think it’s unusual for my friends and people my age [to feel the way I do]. I only see bored 20-year-olds. I don’t see any bored 60-year-olds.”
On what drew them to Hope Springs:
Streep: “I like things that seem like they have a problem…Built into it was something really funny but lodged in something very real.”
Jones: “At long last, I had a chance to work with Meryl, so there was no question in my mind that I wanted to do it.”
On their prolific careers:
Streep: “I think there’s not a sell-by date on actors…But you also understand what a crapshoot it is and how serendipity plays a huge part. It’s not a piece of cake by any means.”
Jones: “I’ve been lucky-and happy. I’ve made some bad movies. And I really enjoyed it!”
On passing the acting torch to their children:
Streep: “I’m delighted that we can share some things and that I have some experience that can be of comfort to her.”
Jones: “It makes you feel good when your kids choose to do the thing that you do even as much as you come home and complain about it.”
On endlessly pursuing their passions:
Streep: “I like everything. There’s just not anything I don’t like to do. That’s the problem. It means I’m very distractible.”
Jones: “I like being a director, and I’m never going to stop being an actor.”