MovieChat Forums > Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) Discussion > Does Meryl do her own singning?

Does Meryl do her own singning?


Just wonder. Meryl can sing, but can she sing bad opera?

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Yes, she certainly does in this movie.

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Yes. They just had an interview with her on the CBS morning show.

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She actually sings better than the real Florence Foster Jenkins. I thought they would actually make her sound even worse than in real life for dramatic purposes, but I was shocked to see that Meryl actually TONED DOWN Jenkins' horrible voice.

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Yes, she can sing.

It takes real talent to fake bad singing. I understand she is pretty "terrible" but not as bad as the real Florence.

Madeline Kahn also had a great singing voice and could fake bad singing perfectly.

It's really not as easy as you'd think.

And Florence Foster Jenkins was just awful. I have an LP recording of her, but you can still buy her recordings on CD. Yes, she is still that "popular".

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They play a recording of the real FFJ during the end credits of the movie. I think Streep got very, very close to the real thing.

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Both Meryl Streep and Madeline Kahn studied opera before switching to acting. They both had/have beautiful voices although Kahn never really had the chance to show off her real pipes. She always did her singing badly as directed by Mel Brooks and did an excellent job of that too. Madeline will always be missed, she was a great talent taken away too soon.

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Yes, and she's almost as good as Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Georgia."

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Get a copy of MAMMA MIA. Ignore everything but her numbers, and you'll see she has quite the set of pipes. Even better, listen to her number in INTO THE WOODS. Yes, the woman can sing.

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Oh yes, what a great musical presentation in Mamma Mia. Meryl is such an intelligent and great actress!

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While ricki and the flash was mostly a forgettable movie it displays her singing abilities better than mamma mia IMO.

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Bbethany7 In Silkwood Meryl renders a lovely acapella rendition of Amazing Grace, then belts out a rousing
country/blues song, Heartbreak Hotel, at the end of Postcards From The Edge. She sings with Jack Nicholson in
Heartburn and also in Ironweed. She's quite good in Mama Mia. Oh, also she sings You Don't Know Me in Postcards. Don't miss her in Death Becomes Her doing a sultry number called ME. Meryl could, if she chose to, have had a career
as a singer in various genres. She's great.

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She does ALL her own singing. The truly awful bits and a touching bit at the end when we hear FFJ's version of what she thinks she sounds like--and it's Meryl's beautiful voice in place of the awfulness we've been hearing.

"What do you mean I have no signature?"

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I knew that and told my husband when Meryl was in angel gear, that was her real voice. Very lovely. He gave me that quizzical eye.

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That's what I thought. It was her voice at the end too, and it sounds great.

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Bbethany7 No. They captured an Orangutan in Malasia who was used for the scenes where Florence's vocalizings
are just awful, if not awesome. Meryl coached the creature for weeks in order to make him plausibly her.

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