According to Variety, Chris Cooper is joining the cast of the Weinstein Company’s upcoming “August: Osage County”. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts are already on board to star in the picture, which focuses on the Weston family, a group of people who have to get past their personal differences when the alcoholic husband of Streep’s character goes missing. Cooper has signed on to play Streep’s brother-in-law. With Streep and Roberts on board – and Andrea Riseborough being recently mentioned as well, Cooper’s casting is one more especially talented actor added to the growing list. Factor in the Pulitzer Prize winning source material (the play won the award for drama in 2008) and this project, which is expected to go into production this August, the film certainly has a lot going for it already. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

This week’s spotlight is “Lions for Lambs”, Robert Redford’s 2007 drama about the war in Iraq. New DVD screencaptures have been added and new clips, including the making of and an interview with Meryl, have been uploaded as well. Also, check the very funny interview with Redford, Cruise and Streep on Good Morning America to promote the film’s theatrical release. Production notes and review after the cut. As always, please share your thoughts about the film in the comments.

According to the Daily Mail, actress Andrea Riseborough is in the final stages of negotiations to star with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in the screen version of Tracy Letts’s prize- winning play August: Osage County. Streep and Roberts, respectively play the pill-popping matriarch Violet and her eldest daughter Barbara. Riseborough, meanwhile, is slated to play Violet’s youngest daughter, Karen, who’s likely being written younger as her stage character is notably 40 years of age. The film adaptation (which will be a condensed version of the original play considering that ran 3.5 hours) follows the women of the Weston family whose lives have splintered in many directions until their alcoholic father’s disappearance brings them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. I thoroughly enjoyed Andrea Riseborough in “Brighton Rock”, so if she gets the job, it’ll be fantastic to see her opposite Meryl.

This Sunday we cover “Prime”, the 2005 romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman as a therapist and patient whose relationship is tested when the patient starts dating the therapist’s son. New DVD screencaptures have been added to the image library, three video clips as well as a making of and deleted scenes have been added to the video archive. Production notes and review are below. As always, please share your thoughts on “Prime” in the comments.

Pictures of Meryl’s appearance at the Kent Lecture Series in Connecticut earlier this week have been added to the image library, alongside additions from her most recent appearances, including the Public Theater Anniversary Gala reading of “Romeo and Juliet”, the Women in Film Crystal Awards and the Made in N.Y. Awards. Enjoy the new pictures.

A new theatrical poster as well as a new production still for “Hope Springs” have been released and added to the image library. The film, starring Meryl and Tommy Lee Jones as a couple attending a counseling weekend to decide the fate of their marriage, releases next month. In other film news, locations for the upcoming “August: Osage County” are currently being scouted in Washington and Osage counties, according to here.

Unfortunate news for today. Nora Ephron, the essayist, author and filmmaker who challenged and thrived in the male-dominated worlds of movies and journalism and was loved, respected and feared for her wit, died on Tuesday of leukemia. She was 71. As a screenwriter, Ephron was nominated three times for Academy Awards, for “Silkwood,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” and was the rare woman to write, direct and produce Hollywood movies. Meryl Streep, who starred in thee Ephron classics, “Silkwood” and “Heartburn” (as a writer) and “Julie & Julia,” (as a director) noted that her interests and intellect touched on all subject matters. “Nora just looked at every situation and cocked her head and thought, ‘Hmmmm, how can I make this more fun?’ ” Streep said. “You could call on her for anything: doctors, restaurants, recipes, speeches or just a few jokes, and we all did it, constantly. She was an expert in all the departments of living well.”

Yesterday, Meryl Streep spoke to a packed house at Kent Center School. The presentation was part of the Kent Memorial Library’s “Great Performances” series this year, which featured opera singer Marilyn Horne earlier in the season. On Sunday, Streep’s star power pulled in an audience of nearly 500 people. In a dialogue with author Frank Delaney, Streep spoke about how she started her career, the various people she’s portrayed in her numerous films and thoughts on life itself. “I remember summers when there was nothing to do [in suburban New Jersey]. “We would say, ‘WE’RE BORED!’” she told a rapt audience in Kent Sunday afternoon when she appeared as the closing act of Kent Memorial Library’s “Great Performances” spring lecture series. “My mother would say, ‘Go outside and don’t come back until dinner.’ I remember lying on the grass and watching the clouds, smelling the wonderful smell of the grass, and all those things that feed the soul.” In making the introduction, Delaney said audiences have enjoyed the emotional thrill of her every role and her performances have inspired us. A nice article with plenty of quotes from the evening can be found at Litchfield County Times website. Pictures will follow.

Here’s the last batch of appearances pictures, ranging from 1998 to 2000. Enjoy the new pictures!

Appearances – 2000 – Screen Actors Guild Awards
Appearances – 2000 – Golden Globe Awards
Appearances – 2000 – Joseph Papp Humanitarian Fund Dinner
Appearances – 1999 – “This is my Father” Premiere
Appearances – 1999 – “Music of the Heart” Premiere
Appearances – 1999 – Lincoln Center Tribute to Mike Nichols
Appearances – 1999 – Wooster St. Reading of “The Night Before Christmas”
Appearances – 1999 – What Women Want Gala
Appearances – 1999 – Gotham Awards
Appearances – 1999 – Bryant Park Grill Benefit
Appearances – 1999 – Glamour Magazine Benefit Gala
Appearances – 1999 – Berlin International Film Festival – Press Conference
Appearances – 1998 – “One True Thing” Premiere (New York)
Appearances – 1998 – Hollywood Walk of Fame Reception

The next batch of appearances pictures has been added, now ranging from 1993 to 1998.

Appearances – 1998 – “Dancing at Lughnasa” Premiere (New York)
Appearances – 1998 – “Dancing at Lughnasa” Photocall (Ireland)
Appearances – 1998 – Telluride Film Festival
Appearances – 1997 – Dartmouth Film Award
Appearances – 1997 – Vassar College Visit
Appearances – 1997 – Robert Rauschenberg Retrospective
Appearances – 1995 – “The Bridges of Madison County” Premiere (Los Angeles)
Appearances – 1995 – Raul Julia Memorial at the Public Theater
Appearances – 1995 – “The River Wild” Press Conference (Paris)
Appearances – 1994 – “The River Wild” Press Conference (Los Angeles)
Appearances – 1994 – Mann’s Chinese Theatre Handprints
Appearances – 1994 – AFI Lifetime Achievement Award Honoring Jack Nicholson
Appearances – 1994 – “The House of the Spirits” Premiere (New York)
Appearances – 1993 – “The House of the Spirits” Press Conference (Copenhagen)
Appearances – 1993 – Rungstedlund Award (Copenhagen)