The 65-year-old actress, who is one of the most awarded star in Hollywood with 18 Academy and 29 Golden Globes nominations to her credit, said told Graham Norton on his show that it was sobering to be dimissed like that.
Streep was asked to audition for the film by producer Dino De Laurentis' son after he saw her in a play. As the actress stood before the two men, Laurentis blurted out in Italian, 'Why do you bring me this ugly thing?'. He was not aware that Streep knew Italian.
"I'm sorry I'm not beautiful enough to be in 'King Kong'!," Streep told Laurentis.
Jessica Lange was eventually cast to play Dwan in the 1976 film.
The actress also spoke about Hollywood opinion about actresses above 40 while talking about her role of a witch in musical 'Into The Woods'.
"This is my first witch. When I turned 40 I was offered three witches in one year. And it sent me a signal about how Hollywood felt about people turning 40 and I felt bad, it put my back up and I didn't want to play them. Now I am more age appropriate!,' Streep said.