Meryl Streep Says That ‘Out of Africa’ Shampoo Moment With Robert Redford Is a ‘Sex Scene in a Way’: We’ve Seen ‘People F—ing, but We Don’t See That Loving Touch’
variety.comCannes Film Festival, Oscar winner Meryl Streep opened up about one of her most iconic on-screen moments — the shampoo scene from “Out of Africa.” The 1986 Sydney Pollack film starred Streep and Robert Redford as a baroness and a big game hunter who fall in love in a lush desert romance.
In what is considered one of the most intimate moments in movie history, Redford gives Streep a steamy salon scrub in a South African river.
The actress went so far as to call the moment a sex scene. “It’s a sex scene in a way, because it’s so intimate. We’ve seen so many scenes of people fucking, but we don’t see that loving touch, that care,” Streep said to big applause during a conversation at Cannes’ Théâtre Debussy.
In an interesting wrinkle, Redford needed some coaching on precisely how to give Streep a shampoo to remember. “The animal that kills the most men in Africa is the hippopotamus, especially when you come between them and the river,” Streep recalled being warned by production.
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