When you look a lot like your mother and decide to enter the profession that she completely, totally dominates — well, it's important to have the right perspective.
Mamie Gummer is the daughter of Meryl Streep, and when she decided to become an actress she knew what she was going to have to deal with.
"That's the thing that's going to precede me no matter where I go," she said on TODAY Wednesday. "Getting on top of the elephant and riding it around the room sort of felt like a better way to deal with it."
What elephant? That would be Gummer's star appearance alongside her three-time-Oscar-winner mom in "Ricki and the Flash," in which she plays Streep's estranged daughter. But due to the nature of their characters' relationship, it was not all hearts and flowers when the cameras rolled: Gummer's character really had to let her rock-star mom have it.
"It was a little bit troubling to look at the person that you love most in the world and just..." Gummer indicated clawing at the air. "It was a little bit alarming how quickly that all was accessed, and I was worried that I would be wounding to her in some way."
Fortunately, mom is a pro — and ended up smiling despite being yelled at by her daughter.
In the end, said Gummer, "It was a wonderful and quite profound experience."
"Ricki and the Flash" opens in theaters Aug. 7.