Silkwood

Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) is a nuclear plant worker at the Kerr-McGee plant in Oklahoma. She lives with her partner Drew (Kurt Russell) and her best friend Dolly (Cher), who also work at the plant, and leads a carefree life. When Karen discovers that she has been exposed to plutonium radiation, she joins the Union to reveal the dangerous working conditions at the plant. She is soon asked to gather evidence of wrongdoings, but her fight for safer working conditions alienates her from her co-workers, who fear for their jobs, and eventually also endangers her life…

In SILKWOOD, Cher holds her own against celebrated actress Meryl Streep, proving to the press that she was a ‘serious’ actress. The film was directed by renowned filmmaker Mike Nichols (THE GRADUATE, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?). Cher was cast in an atypical, non-glamorous role as a lesbian janitor in a nuclear power plant. With her convincing performance, Cher won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated in the same category at the Oscars. It remains one of Cher’s most acclaimed roles, even though she almost turned it down because the prospect of acting alongside Meryl Streep intimidated her. “I thought it was going to be like having an audience with the Pope,” but fortunately, Streep immediately put her at ease, and there was a great deal of trust between the two stars. “ Cher was really fun. I was smitten by her openness, both as an actress and as a person… For a showgirl, there’s not a phony bone in her body,” Meryl Streep said, praising her co-star.