According to The Belfast Telegraph, Meryl Streep is set to make a high-profile return to Belfast shortly after her portrayal of Maggie Thatcher is screened at the movies in January. She’s hoping to visit the city to celebrate the opening of the £18m Metropolitan Arts Centre in the vibrant Cathedral Quarter. Four years ago, Meryl came to Belfast to raise funds for the MAC and to endorse the project, which was still in the planning stages then. She went to its forerunner, the Old Museum Arts Centre, to take part in a question and answer session with leading figures in the arts world here, and she even made a passable attempt at a Belfast accent. Streep also revealed that her family roots in Co Donegal had helped her “find” an Irish accent in a film version of Brian Friel’s play Dancing At Lughnasa. Anne McReynolds, the chief executive at the MAC, said yesterday that officials were keeping their fingers crossed that Streep could fit a return to Belfast into her busy schedule. “I stay in touch with her all the time and keep her up to speed on how the new building is progressing. She is very excited about it all. And she is totally passionate and committed to the MAC and its plans for the future. She completely gets the idea,” she said. “Meryl has been a great friend to the MAC and to Belfast.” The six-storey MAC building will include two theatres, three major visual art galleries, a dance studio, education, workshop and rehearsal spaces plus offices for resident arts groups. he new MAC is expected to attract upwards of 200,000 people every year.

After yesterday’s panel discussion, Meryl and Yo-Yo Ma participated in a Musical Dialogue. According to The New York Times, the night’s production was put together by Damian Woetzel, a former dancer and prominent dance producer, and it included much more than jookin and strings. Among those joining in onstage were Wu Tong, the sheng player, Brooklyn Rider and Meryl Streep, who did a dramatic reading in English while Mr. Ma played. One person involved in the logistics said Ms. Streep had actually practiced a Tang Dynasty poem in Chinese for the occasion, but had decided not to go ahead with reading it. Pictures from the musical dialogue have been added to the gallery.

A video transcript of Meryl’s appearance at the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture Panel has been added to the video archive. Also, while being in Washington this week, Meryl talked with PBS’ To the Contrary about “The Iron Lady” and her support of the National Women’s History Museum. Edit: You can now watch the complete panel discussion, as two more parts have been added – here and here. Enjoy the clips!

Added more pictures of Meryl’s appearance at the De Pizan Honors Gala hosted by the National Women’s History Museum as well as today’s appearance at the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture Panel.

In a week that has included London and Washington appearances already, Meryl is now in China, as previously reported, attending the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture with a panel discussion today. Tomorrow will mark the Chinese premiere of “The Iron Lady”, so check back for more pictures.

Article courtesy The Washington Post: Meryl Streep, sitting in a hotel conference room and later at a podium at the Ronald Reagan Building, says her personal history has led her to join the effort to establish a National Women’s History Museum. “My grandmother had three children and she couldn’t vote in the school board election. She gave my grandfather the piece of paper with her choices,” Streep related. Personal stories, unknown bravery, everyday life and the epic personalities should all be part of a building, she argued,in a honeyed voice so familiar after 35 years. “We need a museum. By their monumentality, they claim a place in your heart,” she said, gesturing at some large place in the air, now invisible. She has found local stories, with universal messages. Near her home is a house where Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, who sued for her freedom, worked for the Ashley family and was abused by the wife. “She heard the discussion about ‘everyman is born free.’ And she was serving tea and stoking the fire,” said Streep. Freeman’s sister was attacked by Mrs. Ashley, but Freeman stepped in front to take the blow from the fireplace shovel. “She was burned on her arm,” said Streep, pushing up her sleeve for emphasis. “But just as interesting is the story of her mistress. If you look at it, both were unpaid workers.”

Article courtesy The Washington Examiner: Actress Meryl Streep dashed in and out of Washington Wednesday night to give a boost to her favorite D.C.-based pet project, building a National Women’s History Museum on the National Mall. “Oh it’s going to happen,” she told Yeas & Nays. “We just need to get people riled up.” That doesn’t seem to be too tough a feat for Streep. During the VIP reception of the first ever Christine de Pizan Honors Gala, put on by the nonprofit that represents the future museum, Streep attracted a line of several hundred fans to pose for photos. “Oh my God, she’s my favorite actress,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney said, before giving a perfectly political response to the question of her favorite Streep flick. “My favorite film of her is the one that we make of her playing herself, in the passage of the Women’s Museum and also the Equal Rights Amendment,” the New York Democrat explained. Streep gave quite the pep talk, standing on the stage of the Ronald Reagan building. “We just got to pull together girls and get this done,” she said, before giving us a little sneak peak of her lead character in “The Iron Lady.” “As Margaret Thatcher said, ‘if you want something spoken about ask a man, if you want it done, ask a woman.'” To which she received a standing ovation from the riled up crowd.

Yesterday, Meryl was a speaker at the De Pizan Honors Gala hosted by The National Women’s History Museum in Washington DC. Pictures from the event have been added to the Image Library.

As the Hollywood Reporter writes today, Meryl Streep’s portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is already attracting as much controversy as the life and work of Thatcher herself. Ever since the trailer and early screenings have been released, news outlets in the United Kingdom are bursting (or going nuts, that lies in the eye of the beholder) with either praise for Streep’s performance and/or criticism for the film itself. And it’s quite difficult to select who’s seen the film, or just the trailer, or none. The THR continues, as the movie is being widely touted – largely because of Streep’s involvement – as an awards season favorite on both sides of the Atlantic, largely sight unseen. Former cabinet member and Tory stalwart Norman Tebbit wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that Thatcher was “never, in my experience, the half-hysterical, over-emotional, over-acting woman portrayed by Meryl Streep.” That just from the trailer currently showing here. The media screenings begin in earnest next week here but the Tory stalwarts poo-pooing the movie in the pages of the right-wing leaning national The Daily Telegraph are queuing up. Tim Bell, one of Thatcher’s key PR advisers, described the film as a “non-event” and said he had no interest in seeing it (which means, basically, that he hasn’t seen it). The typically left-leaning national broadsheet The Guardian said in its early notice for the film that Streep’s turn is “astonishing and all but flawless; a masterpice of mimicry which re-imagines Thatcher in all her half-forgotten glory.” I personally think that the outrage of any media is a welcome promotion for the film itself. Holding its trailer and screenings back for as long as possible has succeeded in making “The Iron Lady” the talk of the town.

I’ve added two new video clips to the gallery – one is a report on the “Iron Lady” poster unveiling in London, the other is Meryl’s speech at the Academy Tribute to Vanessa Redgrave (a great speech, as always). Also, additional pictures from this event have been added to the gallery.