Meryl Streep Thought Her 'Don't Look Up' Co-Stars Were Calling Her a Goat

Jonah Hill explains how the 72-year-old actress misinterpreted the acronym for "greatest of all time"

Photo (right): Michael Palmer

BY Allie GregoryPublished Dec 8, 2021

Translating slang can prove difficult across cultural and generational lines — truly, it happens to the best of us — so who's to fault Meryl Streep for not getting Jonah Hill's compliment when the actor called his Don't Look Up co-star "the G.O.A.T."

Hill recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show to speak about his involvement in the film, including his appreciation for the 72-year-old actress whom he maintains is the "greatest of all time."

"Meryl Streep's actually cool," Hill told Fallon. "And she's the best actor ... I keep saying, 'Oh, and you know, getting to work with Meryl, she's the G.O.A.T.' Right? Which, if you know, stands for 'greatest of all time.'"

Not realizing that Streep might not be catching on to the lingo, Hill had been making a habit of referring to his onscreen mother as such through press circuits and interviews, he explained.

"And Meryl, to me, she is the G.O.A.T. She's the greatest of all time. Then, today, we're doing a press conference and she's like, 'You know, and Jonah is so comfortable with me, he's been calling me a goat all week.' And I'm like, 'What the fuck?'"

Hill recalled how Jennifer Lawrence had to explain the term to Streep, who apparently thought her relationship with Hill was so comfortable that they were giving each other barn-themed pet names.

"We just offhandedly call Meryl the G.O.A.T.," Lawrence explained on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show. "We were doing a photoshoot and Meryl said, 'That's right, just tell the old goat where to go.' I was like, 'Meryl, you know that G.O.A.T means 'greatest of all time.' We haven't just been calling you goat!'"

You can see the G.O.A.T. and her co-stars Hill and Lawrence, as well as Leonardo DiCaprioCate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet and more, in Adam McKay's Don't Look Up when it releases on Netflix on December 24. 

In the meantime, watch Hill's interview below.

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