A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : GREAT PART, GREAT SCOTT! : The ‘Great-Ephemeral-Quality’ A-List Is Quite Long in Hollywood, It Appears

That strange grinding noise that reverberated through Hollywood recently? The collective teeth-gnashing of a number of A-list actresses.

Meryl Streep, the casting coup queen, strikes again. First “Sophie’s Choice,” then “Plenty,” then “Death Becomes Her” and now “The House of the Spirits.”

The lead in director Bille August’s next movie, which begins shooting Jan. 18 and is penciled in for Christmas of ’93 release, was, it seems, the most coveted female part since Catwoman. Streep will play the role of Clara opposite Jeremy Irons, a role she quickly agreed to do after reading August’s adaptation of Isabel Allende’s 1985 best-seller.

She was apparently not alone in her enthusiasm. “Almost every actress in town wanted this role, and with good reason,” says one source in the know. “The movie’s a multigenerational epic set in Chile and Clara ages from 18 to 60 . . . parts like this don’t come down the pike too often.”

Along with having clairvoyant powers, Clara, in this spiritual drama set against a background of political turmoil, also has one doozy of a second act. After an hour of screen time, she gets in a fight with Irons’ character, her husband, says she will never speak to him again and then doesn’t. “Talk about Oscar bait!” says an insider.

Streep was not the first choice. That honor went to Annette Bening, who seriously considered it, but eventually declined due to the responsibilities of new motherhood. Michelle Pfeiffer then got a crack at it, but she, too, declined for reasons that no one close to the production can understand.

Around the time Bening turned the part down, August met with Glenn Close, who loved the material and wanted to be involved. August, it is said, toyed with the idea of casting Close as Clara, but thought he wanted someone younger. But, he asked, would Close be interested in the equally juicy part of Ferula, Irons’ older spinster sister, who Clara awakens from a lifetime of dourness and doom. She was.

But for the part of Clara, August met with--or mused over--practically every A-list actress and then some. Among them, in no particular order: Laura Dern, Dana Delany, Geena Davis, Elizabeth Perkins, Robin Wright, Isabelle Adjani, Andie MacDowell, Juliet Stevenson, Winona Ryder, Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts.

Three actresses--Madeleine Stowe, Nicole Kidman and Kim Basinger--were screen-tested for the role. All were reportedly quite good, and yet August wanted to keep looking. And then, Streep’s name was mentioned.

The decision to cast Streep, 43, in the role of Clara over Close, 45, when the director was reportedly “looking for someone younger” is, of course, a mysterious one. Apparently, the final factor in the decision was that August was looking for someone with “a great ephemeral quality.” Even though Streep and Close both have translucent skin, Streep was apparently deemed the more see-through of the two.

Before casting Streep, however, the filmmakers consulted Close and told her how they were leaning. Despite their fears that she would be offended, Close was quite excited. “She said she was very happy with that idea because it would be a good thing for the movie,” says a source. “She was incredibly gracious and wonderful. It was a smart thing to do.”

And what if Close had thrown a fit? “Well, if she had said no to the idea, I don’t think they would have cast Meryl because Glenn was already a big part of the movie, and had been for quite some time.”

Although not involved in the casting decision of the year, Irons is said to be quite pleased with the result. “He’s worked with Meryl (“The French Lieutenant’s Woman”) and Glenn (on Broadway in “The Real Thing” and in the film “Reversal of Fortune”) and adores them both, and they adore him.

“The really exciting thing about this movie (is) that the women who are considered our two best actresses share a lot of screen time. This movie is probably the only opportunity in their careers where they’ll work together. Unless, for some reason, someone decides to do a movie remake of ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ ”