Meryl Streep plays “an idealised version” of her mother in her new movie.

The ‘Devil Wears Prada’ actress, who stars as chef Julia Childs in ‘Julie and Julia’, revealed the film allowed her to pay homage to her mom Mary.

She explained: “Yes, the performance is an idealised version of Julia, but I'm also doing an idealised version of my mother, who had a similar joie de vivre.

“She had undeniable sense of how to enjoy her life, and made every room she walked into brighter by her presence. She really was something.

“I have a good deal of my father in me. I'm another kind of sensibility. But really, all my life, I wanted to be more like my mother. So this was my little homage to that spirit. That's more of what I was doing, than actually just doing Julia Child.”

The 60-year-old actress – who has received 15 Oscar nominations, winning two honours – says that despite her advancing years, she is enjoying working more than ever and believes the movie industry is changing to be more female dominated.

She told the Chicago Sun Times newspaper: “When it comes to choices for film roles, I have had more in the last five years than in the previous five years. Part of it may be there are now more women in Hollywood making executive decisions''