Meryl Streep shocked Jimmy Kimmel Thursday night when she gave him a taste of the character voices she does while she is reading books to her grandchildren.
“Do these kids get to hear you read to them?” Kimmel asked Streep during their conversation Thursday night, referring to her grandchildren. When Streep confirmed she does, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host joked, “Oh, wow. They have no idea how good they have it.” He subsequently asked if Streep has been reading the “Harry Potter” books to any of the kids. (He is in the midst of reading the series to his own children.)
“Oh, sure. Yeah, I read that to [my daughter] Louisa, who’s now 34,” Streep replied, adding with a laugh, “Not recently. I read it when she was, you know, in like the third grade or something.” When Kimmel asked her if she does any voices for the books’ characters, Streep enthusiastically responded, “Of course!”
“I heard you do the characters, too,” she told Kimmel, who replied, “No, I do one character. I only do Hagrid. That is the only character that I do, and sometimes I accidentally do Hagrid when it’s other characters speaking… I’m not you. Let’s put it that way.”
Laughing, Streep said, “I’m just trying to imagine Snape as [Hagrid].” She proceeded to put on gruff voice and tell Kimmel, “I do Hagrid!” The late night host immediately replied, “Oh, that’s a good Hagrid. It’s better than my Hagrid.”
You can watch the moment yourself in the video below.
Earlier in the interview, Kimmel asked Streep, who has won three Oscars, what the ages of her grandchildren are. The actress and “Devil Wears Prada 2” star proceeded to recite the ages and then correct herself a few times, before ultimately settling on, “7-5-4-4-3-3-1.” In response, Kimmel joked, “Dial that number. I think you just accidentally gave out your social security number.”
“Are you a cool grandma?” Kimmel asked Streep.
“I don’t know. Hmm… I think I’m a little like Miranda Priestly as a grandma,” the Oscar winner confessed, referring to her tyrannical magazine editor in both “Devil Wears Prada” films. Her answer shocked Kimmel, who asked, “Oof. Really?”
“I like the rules, dear,” Streep explained. “I like the rules.” Kimmel jokingly then asked, “Have you fired any of the children?,” to which a laughing Streep sheepishly responded, “No, but you know…”
