Meryl Streep’s new character Ricki Rendazzo is a feisty rock-n-roll diva who’s struggling with her choice to leave her family in order to pursue her music dreams. While her story is not exactly adapted from true life, she does have a real life inspiration: the mother-in-law of the film’s writer, Diablo Cody.
“Terry is a grandmother of six and she’s still up there rocking out every weekend, walking on the bar, just electrifying the audience,” Cody told Yahoo. Terry’s band, Silk and Steel, performs regularly at the Jersey Shore.
Here’s Terry in action:
Meryl’s real life daughter Mammie Gummer stars along side her in the film, and, although the pair have a good relationship in real life, Meryl revealed on The Today Show that Mammie really got into their on-screen fights.
“I don’t know where she pulled it up from. But she really enjoyed railing at me,” Meryl shared, with mock surprise.
“We are very close,” she continued. “And she is nothing like Julie, And I am really nothing like Ricki. It’s just acting.”
