A record 20 films have been submitted for consideration in Oscar’s animated feature film category. The surfeit of entries is likely to force the Academy to nominate five animated films for only the second time since the category was created in 2001. Academy rules state that if fewer than 16 films are submitted in the category, only three can be nominated. More nominations in the category could prove helpful to smaller films included among the entries. Nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be unveiled Feb. 2. A full list can be found under the cut.

Added pictures from yesterday’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” panel at Apple Store Soho, in which director Wes Anderson as well as actors Jason Schwartzman and Meryl Streep participated.

Pictures from the New York premiere of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (November 10) have been added to the Image Library. More pictures and video coverage will follow this weekend.

At the film’s after-party, Meryl spoke to the NY Post’s Cindy Adams, who asked Meryl what possessed her to voice a cartoon fox (married to a George Clooney-voiced Mr. Fox). Meryl says: “Well, the chance to work with Wes Anderson and the chance to fly to Paris, where I did my work, with some extra recording done in Connecticut. When I did my lines, Wes played the other character speaking back to me, which helps give a feel for the action. Very important because reactions and the way your body moves defines your voice. So when I was working, George was on some of the tracks and Wes on some.”

Scans from the latest Entertainment Weekly have been added to the Image Library. Enjoy!

Yesterday, Meryl has attended the 19th Annual “A Magical Evening” Gala Benefit. Pictures from the event have been added to the Image Library.

Added two new production stills, as well as a brand-new poster, to the Image Library.

Many thanks to the folks at Entertainment Weekly for sending this in:

This week’s Entertainment Weekly is the annual Holiday Movie Preview – a guide to the season’s upcoming films that include grown-up comedies, sci-fi adventures, Oscar contenders, and more. In “It’s Complicated”, Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin both meet their match. Streep plays a divorcee who has a fling with her hotheaded ex-husband (Baldwin) just as she’s contemplating dating her gentlemanly architect (Steve Martin). “I mean, am I not the luckiest woman on the face of the planet?” asks Streep. “I think it’s more to do with the fantasy of women my age and the we’re-not-done-yet feeling.”
 

That theme is familiar for writer-director Nancy Meyers, who explored similar terrain in Something’s Gotta Give, which raked in $125 million in the process. If early buzz is to be believed, It’s Complicated could be headed in the same direction. For Hollywood, this movie makes a bold statement that romance isn’t just for twenty- or thirtysomethings. “I don’t mean to be glib, but the title really is perfect. It is complicated,” says Baldwin. “I had a pretty tough divorce myself, so sometimes I sit there and I go, ‘Well, should I have worked it out? Maybe I should have tried harder.’ It’s also what you teach your children about their love lives. That’s a big thing for me, to teach my daughter: No risk, no reward. I want her to realize that it’s a roll of the dice. Not everybody gets so lucky, where they have a family and a marriage forever and ever. [Gestures to Streep, who has been married to sculptor Don Gummer since 1978] But you have to try. People say, Do I believe in getting married? Oh yeah, of course I do. I’d love to get married again. [Pause] I have to find a really rich woman so I can stay home and read books all day.”

One scene in the film has Streep’s character freaking out in the plastic surgeon’s office after the doctor explains the horrifying potential complications. “Well, if you’ve ever even contemplated that stuff and looked at what can go wrong in any of those magazines, it’s terrifying!” she says. Many people in Hollywood attempt to hide their age, but Streep says “Yeah, but now every part of your life is so chronicled. If something mysteriously looks better…[Trails off in a fit of giggles].” Baldwin retorts “I’m not saying I wouldn’t do something! I intend to do something. I probably will. Let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t’ rule it out because……You don’t think I wake up every day and wish I looked like this and this and this? But I can’t let that bother me. I’ll never forget, I said to Mike Nichols, ‘Who do you think is the greatest actor?’ And he said, ‘Nicholson. Because he has no vanity.’ I thought, God, what a thing to say.”

The full article can be read in the latest Entertaimment Weekly, on newsstands November 6, 2009!

The international human rights organization Equality Now has brought together international and New York activists fighting to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in a media briefing on November 3. The occasion also featured the premiere of a new documentary film called “Africa Rising: The Grassroots Movement to End Female Genital Mutilation“. The film’s premiere at the NYU Cantor Film Center was hosted by Meryl Streep. Pictures from the premiere can be found in the Image Library.

This is a powerful look at how to eliminate, from within cultures themselves, a tragic practice. This procedure is perpetrated on young girls, the most vulnerable members of society. (Meryl Streep)

Everyday 6,000 girls are at risk of undergoing FGM through out the world. In the US, 228,000 women and girls are estimated to have undergone or are at risk of FGM. Census data from 2000 indicates that over 40,000 women and girls are at risk in the metropolitan region of New York, Northern New Jersey and Long Island. Metropolitan New York is considered to have the highest concentration of women and girls at risk of undergoing FGM in the US, yet there is little awareness or services to address the specific needs of these women and girls.

Meryl Streep has a lot of reasons to see the off-Broadway hit “Love, Loss and What I Wore”. The main attraction for this November 1st backstage visit surely was catching up with her longtime friend and collaborator Nora Ephron, who co-wrote the show with her sister Delia. Streep first worked with Ephron on the engrossing “Silkwood” and later starred in Ephron’s autobiographical film “Heartburn”. The two paired up again earlier this year in the film “Julie & Julia”, which also featured Love, Loss star Jane Lynch (now known for the hit TV show Glee). Pictures can be found in the Image Library with many thanks to Ilaria for the heads-up!

Added pictures of Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline attending yesterday’s “The Lover and the Poet” Benefit to the Image Library.