Streep says studios shocked at her popularity

Meryl Streep says film studios are "shocked" when her films are popular.

The 'Julie and Julia' star thinks the industry is "scared" of making films that appeal to women because all the studio executives are men.

The 60-year-old actress said: "It's always a shock to the studio when a film like 'Mamma Mia' does well because men run the studios and live their own fantasies through them.

"It's harder for a man to jump inside a woman character's mind and imagine, 'This could happen to me'. They see it and they understand that there is a market and it will make them an enormous amount of money.

"But we all respond to instinct ands it's their inner boy that jumps up and goes, 'Yeah I wanna see another G.I. Joe!' "

Meryl also complained about the lack of "strong female roles" for older women.

She said: "My actor friends are all lamenting a lack of material. People are very fearful of where to put the money, and that leads to timidity.

"For the kids there are cattle-calls; they're rounded up like models, plucked out, put in a movie and they're done by the time they're 23."