Meryl Streep bailed on an Oscars stunt that involved a pony

MERYL Streep received a standing ovation during the Oscars but one of Jimmy Kimmel’s writers has revealed what they originally had in store for her.

MERYL Streep very nearly had an actual pony sitting next to her for the entire Oscars.

Intrigued? I mean, how could you not be.

You might recall that during the Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel got everyone inside the Dolby Theatre to give Meryl Streep a standing ovation.

Kimmel used the gesture to mock President Donald Trump who tweeted that Streep was the “most overrated actresses in Hollywood” after she criticised him during her Golden Globes speech.

“We are here tonight to honour great actors, but we’re also here to honour actors who seem great, but actually really aren’t,” Kimmel said.

“And of all the great actors here in Hollywood, one in particular has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances. From her mediocre early work in The Deer Hunter and Out of Africa, to her underwhelming performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films over the course of her lacklustre career.”

But Jimmy Kimmel Live head writer, Molly McNearney, has revealed to IndieWire that they originally had something else in mind for Streep rather than a standing ovation.

“We were going to give her a pony for her 20th Academy Award nomination,” McNearney, who is married to Jimmy Kimmel, said.

“We really wanted to give her a pony on live TV. She was up for it in the beginning, and then I think she got a little nervous about a live animal that she was responsible for holding a leash to for three and a half hours. So we ended up not giving her a pony, and gave her a standing ovation instead.”

Where would the pony have sat?

Kimmel’s other head writer, Danny Ricker, also opened up to IndieWire about how they pulled off that incredible surprise where people on a Hollywood tour bus were walked inside the Dolby Theatre during the broadcast.

“The genesis of it came from a writers’ meeting and Jimmy said he wanted to bring some real people into this event, because movies are for real people,” Ricker said.

“He was interested in combining those two groups, and Gary [supervising producer Gary Greenberg] had the idea of hijacking a Starline tour bus.”

Two of Kimmel’s staffers were on the bus in disguise with the unsuspecting tourists who were under the impression they were actually going to see an apartment owned by former Saved By the Bell star, Mario Lopez.

“They were covertly sending us information on these people, so we knew who Jimmy should talk to, and any interesting information about them,” Ricker said of the staffers.

“So while the Oscars are going, we’re backstage writing jokes as we get texts saying, ‘[These people] are engaged, and they like these celebrities.’ We were rewriting jokes for Jimmy on the air. That came together after the Oscars had started, it was going on in the background.”

The hilarious stunt, which you can watch below, was a hit with those inside the theatre and those watching at home.

Originally published as Meryl Streep bailed on an Oscars stunt that involved a pony