President Barack Obama named 19 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Monday. NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, Meryl Streep and Stevie Wonder were among those named to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor. Obama said in a statement, “I look forward to presenting these nineteen bold, inspiring Americans with our Nation’s highest civilian honor. From activists who fought for change to artists who explored the furthest reaches of our imagination; from scientists who kept America on the cutting edge to public servants who help write new chapters in our American story, these citizens have made extraordinary contributions to our country and the world.” The White House awards ceremony is Nov. 24. This year’s full list of Medal of Freedom recipients: Alvin Ailey, Isabel Allende, Tom Brokaw, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Mildred Dresselhaus, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, Ethel Kennedy, Suzan Harjo, Abner Mikva of Illinois, Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink of Hawaii, Rep. Edward Roybal of California, Charles Sifford, Robert Solow, Stephen Sondheim, Meryl Streep, Marlo Thomas and Stevie Wonder. Many thanks to Glenn and Frank for the heads-up.
This morning, Meryl Streep has a nomination for the 2014 People’s Choice Award as Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress. She shares the category with Chloe Grace Moretz, Emma Stone, Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley. You can vote for the winner right at the People’s Choice official website. Allison Janney and Anna Faris will host the live awards show from the Nokia Theater L.A. Live Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 (9:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. Meryl Streep has a long history with the People’s Choice Awards, winning a total eight Favorite Motion Picture Actress awards in 1984, 1985, 1986 (twice alongside World Favorite Actress), 1987, 1989 and 1990, again for Favorite Actress and World Favorite Actress. Her latest nomination came last year for her performance in “Hope Springs”. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.
A new trailer for “Into the Woods” has been released today. The latest peek at the big-screen take on Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical opens with a shot of Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, leading newcomers Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood and Daniel Huttlestone as Jack, and finally Emily Blunt as The Baker’s Wife with her husband The Baker, played by James Corden, as they sing “I Wish.” Streep makes her grand entrance as The Witch who raised Rapunzel, bargaining with the Baker and his wife to remove a curse in exchange for a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. She then steals the show, singing her big number, “Stay With Me.” You can watch the new trailer in the video archive.
Here comes a great find from the past. One of the first organizations that Meryl Streep publicly supported was Dr. Helen Calidcott’s Women’s Actions for Nuclear Disarmament. In 1981, Meryl narrated the documentary “Eight Minutes to Midnight” about Caldicott’s crusade against nuclear power. And in 1983, Meryl taped a television public service announcement for WAND to raise awarenes of their actions for Nuclear Disarmament in the wake of the ABC television film “The Day After”. You can now watch the PSA in the video archive.
Check out the first featurette for “Into the Woods” to get a taste of snippets from the prologue, Meryl Streep’s “Stay With Me” and more! Also look out for James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim and Rob Marshall gushing about the cast, and the cast gushing about Lapine, Sondheim and Marshall. There’s a lot of love. Cast interview include Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, James Corden and Emily Blunt. The featurette features lots of new scenes and more insight into the characters, including Johnny Depp’s Wolf, Rapunzel and, of course, the Witch.
In this week’s Entertainment Weekly – which features four exclusive covers of the fairy tale epic’s all-star cast – they dive headfirst into the design of the dark, sprawling world of “Into the Woods”, the musical tale about a childless Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) who attempt to lift a witch’s curse by venturing into an enchanted forest filled with classic characters like Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy). Edit: Scans from the magazine have been added to the image library, with many thanks to Claudia for sending them in. Additionally, a new production still and a costume sketch of Meryl’s character have been added as well.
After a few weeks’ worth of rumors, Pathé International has announced that Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant will officially be teaming up for Stephen Frears’ biopic, “Florence”. Florence stars Streep as the real-life New York heiress Florence Foster Jenkins, whose dreams of becoming a renowned opera singer are stymied by her laughable lack of talent. Grant will play her live-in partner and manager, the English actor St. Clair Bayfield, who guides Jenkins away from the real truth, which proves challenging when Jenkins decides to perform live at Carnegie Hall. The film is currently in pre-production. Michael Kuhn and Tracey Seaward will produce, and Nicholas Martin will write the script. Here’s Pathé’s official synopsis:
The true story of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep), the legendary New York heiress and socialite who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great opera singer. The voice she heard in her head was beautiful, but to everyone else it was hilariously awful. Her husband and manager, St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) an aristocratic English actor, was determined to protect his beloved Florence from the truth. But when Florence decided to give a public concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944, St Clair knew he faced his greatest challenge.
The feature films albums have been finalized with all remaining films (2002-2014) being sorted and updated with higher quality images. Additionally, lots of new pictures – a few of her older films and plenty of her more recent films – have been added as well. Among them are fantastic production stills from “The Iron Lady”. To view all last added pictures have a look at the previews below. Otherwise, just browse the film albums to see all pictures in better quality. Enjoy.
Sad news today. A spokeswoman for the family of Misty Upham has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that actress Misty Upham, who was first reported missing on Oct. 6, has been found dead. The Hollywood Reporter has obtained a comment from Meryl Streep, who co-starred with Upham in “August”: “So so sad to hear this news — all our thoughts are with her family and with her beautiful spirit.” Melissa Leo, whose character collaborated with Upham’s to smuggle illegal immigrants from Canada into America in Frozen River, wrote, “Such a loss… so sad, so so sad. I hope to that her talent is remembered more than any troubles we surely will never understand. She was a smart, delightful actor, a spirit wild and hungry. I know I and others are honored to have had Misty in our lives.”
According to the Daily Mail, Meryl Streep is in negotiations to star in a film about an opera singer who couldn’t hit a note. American-born Florence Foster Jenkins had legions of fans who filled her concerts, but it was never clear whether they genuinely enjoyed her piercing screeches — or were just going along for a laugh. Streep, who can carry a tune, has been talking to director Stephen Frears about making the movie about the lady with the variable tempo and less than perfect pitch. Maureen Lipman appeared in a play several years ago about Jenkins called Glorious, and there was a line in it about what the great Caruso said when he heard her sing. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it!’ he apparently told her, though she took it as a compliment. Hugh Grant is also in talks to play Jenkins’s manager, who may well have been more to her than that. Frears works well with women. Look at The Queen with Helen Mirren, or the movies he’s made with Judi Dench (the recent Philomena is a particular stand-out). His work is being celebrated during the BFI London Film Festival, when he will be awarded a BFI Fellowship. At least Meryl won’t need any singing lessons for this latest role. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.