EDGE New York City

A Prairie Home Companion isn’t out yet, but the gossip bloggers are already chatting. The Robert Altman movie, based on Garrison Keillor’s beloved radio show, stars Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Tommy Lee Jones, and, in the juiciest casting news, Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan as mother and daughter.

Considering recent reports of crazy behavior - including unscripted award show moments, a reference to a see-through outfit, jibes at fellow actors, a report from a peer that the actress whisked her away for a night of wild-women drinking, and a dig at Madonna - this is big news. Would she even, this reporter wondered, show up? Would I be a target of humiliation? Maybe I’d be hauled into a convertible and taken to some underground New York club to hang out with her gals.

Unfortunately, for E! devotees, Meryl Streep did none of the above. She was on time, extremely gracious, funny, and had nothing but wonderful words about that young up-and-comer Lohan. Oh sure, she did flash her (covered-up) breasts in my direction, a reminder that our most treasured screen actress is a lot like everyone else - if everyone else had more talent than God. But if that means she’s a bit crazy, it’s like a fox.

"It’s ludicrous at this point how many times I’ve been on those things," says Streep, referring to award shows. "I used to try to hide. I thought that no one was looking at my dress and no one cared about how much I weighed, and then I realized everybody cares about how much you weigh and what you wear, so you might as well give up."

In Prairie, Streep and Tomlin star as the Johnson Sisters, a country duet act who talk simultaneously and spend a lot of time in a dressing room. Kind of like Meryl and Lily. "We fell into a pattern early on," says Streep. Apparently so, as Tomlin jokingly claims she wanted to have a nose designed like Meryl’s so they’d look more alike, and to honor The Hours. Lily’s story makes Meryl laugh. A lot makes Meryl laugh. Anyone who watched them take over the Academy Awards last spring saw how much they do love to talk and laugh together. They also got a sneak preview of the new movie.

Unlike Tomlin, Streep had never worked with Altman before. "All Lily said was how much I was going to love him" - and was surprised at his ease, as well as how much he shoots in a single day. Streep was only on the set for nine days.

"It takes a tremendous amount of confidence to do what he does. We shot ten pages in a single day," she explained, accentuating the number like a proud drama student or a production assistant, but not a person of the the-ah-ter.

"Most directors will shoot a page and a half a day, or a macho director will say," ... at this point Streep lowers her voice and squints her eyes to imitate a Hollywood honcho, or maybe a biker chic, "’Yeah, we shot two-and-three-quarters today...yeah!’" You half expect Streep to continue the impersonation with a crotch grab or tobacco spit, but she’s back to Meryl in Wonderland. "But we shot ten pages!"

What’s remarkable about Streep’s persona is her absolute lack of persona. She’s not anyone because she’s everyone, which is a good way of saying she knows who she is. It also helps to understand why she can play just about anything, assuming you scratch the "just about." During the interview, when someone remarks, as an aside, that Altman likes shooting more pages than listed for that day, so he can say he’s ahead of schedule, Streep murmurs "Oooh," like she’s finally been let in on a secret that someone like, say, Meryl Streep, would have known all along. Later, when she admits that the one director she’d love to work with is P.T. Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) - "Hello? love him!" - her eyes search the room, then move inward, like she’s trying to think of someone who might put in a good word for her. At this point you are tempted to say "Excuse me, but have you met yourself?" (For the record: because of Altman’s age, producers insisted that Anderson be hired as an assistant director. According to Altman, he provided invaluable support during the filming. Meryl called him, affectionately, "a gopher.")

As for Lohan, who truly is America’s scandal queen du jour, Streep took to her like a (surprise!) mother. The relationship in the film "came by default," says Streep, a mother of four. "We just paid attention to her the way you do your teenager; you just ignore them. Basically, they don’t want you to even breathe with them in the same room."

When it comes to talking about the real Lohan, the real Meryl talks too. "You just want to take care of her," says Streep. "She added her heart and soul. And there’s a horrible outside world; the scumbags are there with their long lens, you know, trying to hook themselves into her life."

It’s as if the paparazzi don’t care about sticking their lens into Meryl’s life. It’s as if the woman sitting in front of you doesn’t care about being recognized for her record 13 Oscars nominations and two wins. She’s more dame than Dame. It’s as if she doesn’t care about getting older in a younger world. "Everything’s scarier earlier," is all she says, and it’s all she has to.

Since (surprise again!) Streep does her own singing in the film, will the movie finally put to rest the 1995 comment she made when she and the Material Girl were both up for Evita? "I can sing better than she can," she said at the time. "If Madonna gets it, I’ll rip her throat out."

You’ll have to decide for yourself, though it wouldn’t have surprised me if the new, crazy Meryl got up and sang Don’t Cry for Me Argentina to show off her pipes, and performed it like a pro. Assuming that you got rid of the "like a." Everything in Meryl’s world is real. The accents only accentuate her.

A Prairie Home Companion opens Friday nationwide.