News courtesy Deadline. Although many places list her Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady as a Dec 16th release, The Weinstein Company has decided it is best to keep us waiting a little longer so the official opening date for the movie that co-stars Jim Broadbent and is directed by Phyllida Lloyd is now December 30th in a limited platform release with a wider break to come in January to cash in on those expected Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. At research screenings Streep reportedly got the highest test numbers Harvey Weinstein has ever seen. Between Meryl and Michelle playing Margaret and Marilyn , Harvey is holding a hot hand in this year’s Best Actress contest. Streep has also been announced as one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors which will be awarded on December 4th and air on CBS on December 27th, the same day Oscar nominating ballots are mailed. Timing is everything.

Vanessa Redgrave, Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for “Julia”, will be the recipient of an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences salute on Sunday, November 13, in London. “An Academy Salute to Vanessa Redgrave” is billed as the Academy’s “first-ever European tribute to an actor.” Two-time Oscar nominee David Hare (The Hours, The Reader), will host the event, which will also feature Meryl Streep, Eileen Atkins, Redgrave’s Coriolanus director and co-star Ralph Fiennes, this year’s Honorary Oscar recipient James Earl Jones, and Redgrave’s daughter Joely Richardson. Former Academy President Sid Ganis will introduce the evening.

The Los Angeles Times features “The Iron Lady” in its 2011 Holiday Movie Sneak, with a brand new production still from the film. This biopic presents a portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the only woman to be prime minister of the United Kingdom. With Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Harry Lloyd and Alexandra Roach. Written by Abi Morgan. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Weinstein Co.

While it’s very quiet these days regarding Meryl and “The Iron Lady”, I went through my collection to update the site’s archives with additional pictures of Meryl’s early work. So have a look at production stills from her early theater work, including “Miss Julie”, “The Idiots Karamazov”, “Secret Service”, “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Alice in Concert” – as well as stills of Meryl’s 1980 appearance on the American series “Omnibus”. Enjoy!

While scans from the Vanity Fair article “Maggie Mia” have been posted already (see here), their website has now published the article as well, with a better quality version of the stunning promotional picture you’ll find below.

Is the world dying for a Margaret Thatcher biopic? Probably no more than it’s dying for Harold Wilson or John Major biopics, the dramatic possibilities of the Falklands War notwithstanding. But wait. A Margaret Thatcher biopic starring Meryl Streep? That’s P.M.-tainment! How she wrested the part from one Dame or another remains a mystery whose solution is known only to the actress and her director; we’re just thrilled she got her mitts on it. (And now America is finally even for Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett O’Hara.) Did we mention that we love Meryl Streep? Love-love-LOVE her? That there’s literally no other performer we’d rather see on-screen? Even Jessica Alba? Streep, over the last decade, has evolved from being the Greatest Actress of Her Generation to also being the slyest and wittiest and lightest afoot, ventilating the von Sydow heaviness of her younger roles with a bit of Astaire fresh air. Limited footage available from The Iron Lady suggests Streep’s Thatcher will fit somewhere between the poles of her Julia Child and her Miranda Priestly—a Tory leader who can debone Labour M.P.’s as if they were whole chickens, or stiffen wobbly American presidents with a witheringly arched eyebrow, and yet never lose sight of her inner Python housewife. The director is Phyllida Lloyd, who three years ago put Streep at the center of the 21st century’s finest movie musical: Mamma Mia! (Seriously. You can have Chicago and Dream Girls, though we’ll keep Hairspray too.) Along for the ride, Jim Broadbent will risk being ahistorically interesting as Denis Thatcher. Did we mention that we love Meryl Streep?

Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Suzan-Lori Parks and Oskar Eustis participated in a panel discussion held at the Ford Center on Wednesday, October 26. The panel was held in conjunction with an advance screening of the film “Joe Papp in Five Acts” by Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen.

The screening was covered by the New York Times with a very interesting article on Meryl’s first audition for Papp’s Public Theater: Fresh out of the Yale School of Drama in 1975, Meryl Streep was 90 minutes late for her first audition with Joseph Papp, the artistic director of the Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. Her train from New Haven had been delayed, and there were, of course, no cellphones or e-mail then. She arrived to find Papp sitting in one of his signature white suits, his impatience conveyed with a grimace and twitchy crossed-leg kicks. Yet a few minutes later, the potential of a great actress had transformed his mood, and soon he was offering a small role to Ms. Streep in what would be her Broadway debut: “Trelawny of the ‘Wells’” at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, in an era when acting work in New York was hard to find. The complete article can be read here.

Many thanks to Julie for passing the following information to me. November 16th, 2011 will mark the official opening of the first U.S.-China Forum on The Arts and Culture in Beijing. This four-day event will involve the participation of an extraordinary line-up of American cultural icons, including Meryl Streep, film director Joel Coen, musician Yo-Yo Ma, among others, who will engage in dialogue and perform with their Chinese counterparts. A special screening of “The Iron Lady” will be held on Nov. 19, 2011 at 7:30pm local time, in the National Museum of China, with a follow-up discussion after the screening.

Seated next to Howe is actor Andrew Havill, playing Tom King, who held a variety of portfolios from Employment to Northern Ireland, during Mrs Thatcher’s Downing Street reign. On the premier’s right is a blurred vision of Michael Elwyn as Michael Howard, then the Local Government Minister. And all on his lonesome in the inset picture is Richard E. Grant as Michael Heseltine. Plotting, no doubt. Director Phyllida Lloyd is still in post production, refining and editing her cut of the picture. Over the summer, Meryl did some voice work on the film and fine-tuned a speech or two. Many of the speeches and statements heard in the film won’t be exact records of what was spoken in the Houses of Parliament, on the steps of No 10 or other famous locations – although they will reflect the flavour of what Mrs Thatcher and other major players said.

This was done for a variety of reasons, including copyright, but also so producers didn’t have to seek anyone’s approval for use of their words. Abi Morgan, who penned the screenplay, is a skilled writer and from the bits of footage I have seen it would appear the words put into the mouths of the real-life characters are close to what was actually uttered. In any event, the movie isn’t a documentary on the Thatcher years. It’s an exploration of one remarkable woman’s ambition, and how she hand-bagged her way to success in what is still regarded as a man’s world. ‘It’s also about the price she paid,’ producer Damian Jones told me a while back.

Pictures of Meryl’s appearance at the Directors Guild of America Honors Gala have been added to the gallery.

Director David Frankel was interviewed by ComingSoon.net on his latest film “The Big Year” and was also asked about “Great Hope Springs”. An excerpt can be found below, the complete interview is here.

It’s a drama with surprising comedy, that’s the best way to describe it now. I mean, until I see it in the cutting room, but I think our take on it is that it’s really, really funny, but we’re not playing anything for laughs, and I think that’s the best kind of comedy, I think, where the humor comes out of very real emotion, not unlike “The Big Year.” I think that’s a similar tone that we’re going for in “Great Hope Springs.”