In 2004, Meryl Streep was only the sixth woman to receive the AFI Life Achievement Award, which was handed out during a televised ceremony, which was attended by many of her colleagues and friends, including Cher, Carrie Fisher, Goldie Hawn and Mike Nichols. The year saw another two feature film releases: An updated version/remake of John Frankenheimer’s classic Cold War thriller “The Manchurian Candidate”, now about two Gulf War soldiers, in which Streep played a powerful and ruthless senator (the role was originally played by Angela Lansbury). For her performance, Meryl received another Golden Globe and BAFTA Film Award nomination.

When I heard that Meryl had read the script and responded to it with enthusiasm, I met with her immediately. Within three minutes of sitting down, I had my notebook out, and I was furiously scribbling notes and ideas that were being triggered. And what I understood immediately was that Meryl Streep, the person, was thinking about the script. It wasn’t about her part so much as the script. And that gave rise to tremendous, heady, exciting stuff, and my vision of how the movie could be expanded beyond measure (Jonathan Demme, The Hollywood Reporter, April 14, 2008)

The second release of the year, Brad Silberling’s “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”, based on the beloved children books series, gave Streep a chance to show her funny bone, as the endlessly scared Aunt Josephine. Her supporting role in the visually stunning film partnered her on screen with Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. The film received favorable reviews, decent box office and an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Makeup.