#21 ·
Ante Tomić, screenwriter of the Constitution of the Republic of America, on Streep in the article in the Morning News.
...And then, somewhere around early 2015, if I recall correctly, Rajko Grlić filmed him for a screen test for the role of King Vjeko in “The Constitution of the Republic of America.” When he showed me the footage, my god, I was terrified. When the character tells his Mexican neighbor that Mexicans are nothing but weeds, Streep’s interpretation of the King is calm, mild, almost tender. Sure, that's what the script called for, but nobody ever read it that well—nobody captured that authentic sense of how evil can sometimes be committed with good intentions and a harmless smile, or how hatred in our world is just self-evident, everyday, and banal. It wasn't until I watched Streep that I truly realized what kind of monster we had created, and I felt a slight chill running down my spine...