Meryl Streep has called for the rules of the Oscars to be changed, despite winning her third statuette as Best Female Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
Streep looked genuinely shocked when her name was called out during the ceremony and stopped to embrace her fellow nominee Viola Davis, who had been the favourite for the gong, for her role in Southern drama The Help.
Streep said afterwards, "I thought I was so old and jaded, but they call out your name and you go into a white light. I was a kid again, I actually was a kid... two of the nominees weren't even conceived when I was first nominated."
But later, on her way into one of the many after-parties, when asked why she'd stopped to kiss Davis, she reflected, "She knows, she knows. It's a crapshoot. Two of (the fellow nominees) are my very good friends, any one of them could have been standing there and deserved to.
"I think they should have more nominees like they do for best picture, because this year, some great performances weren't even nominated. About seven or eight would be good."
Looking at her new Oscar in her hand, which can now live with her previous two (for Kramer v Kramer and Sophie's Choice), she added, "this one's going to make the other ones look bad, they're about 30 years old, so they're going to look a little dingey."
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