Meryl has won the National Society’s Best Supporting Actress Award for both “The Devil Wears Prada” and “A Prairie Home Companion”. She has been further received a nomintion as Best Supporting Actress from the St. Louis Film Critics. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

The awards season has started with the critics awards being announced these days. Meryl has received a Best Actress nomination for the Critics Choice Award for “The Devil Wears Prada” and shares an Acting Ensemble nomination with the cast of “A Prairie Home Companion”. She was also named a runner-up for the Best Actress award by the New York Film Critics Association and the Boston Film Critics (in the supporting actress category). Further, “The Devil Wears Prada” has been featured among the Top10 Movies of the Year lists by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. The Golden Globe nominations will be announced this Thursday – the Critics Choice Awards will be handed out on January 12, 2007.

USA Today has published reactions and condolences from many of Robert Altman’s colleagues and actors, including Meryl Streep. Her statement is below, the full article can be read here.

“Bob’s restless spirit has moved on – I have to say, when I spoke with him last week, he seemed impatient for the future. He still had the generous, optimistic appetite for the next thing, and we planned the next film laughing in anticipation of the laughs we’d have. What a gent, what a guy, what a great heart. There’s no one like him and we’ll miss him so.” – Meryl Streep

The cast of “A Prairie Home Companion” has been nominated for a Gotham Award in the “Best Ensemble Cast” category, alongside the casts of “Babel”, “For Your Consideration”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Shortbus”. The Gothams, which will be presented on Nov. 29 at New York’s Pier Sixty at the Chelsea Piers, also will recognize both Kate Winslet and Edward Norton with 2006 Gotham Tributes. Meryl Streep won the Gotham Tribute Award in 1999.

Coinciding with the release of the new film “A Prairie Home Companion,” the Hollywood Bowl will present A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor June 2. The 8 PM evening at the famed outdoor theatre will be hosted by Garrison Keillor and will feature Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman and Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band. Special guests for the evening will include Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly and Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. “America’s favorite storyteller, Garrison Keillor,” reads production notes, “brings us The News From Lake Wobegon plus special guests for a live performance of the ever-popular radio show. It’s an evening of music, storytelling, comedy and down-home fun.” Robert Altman directed “A Prairie Home Companion,” which is due in movie theatres this summer. The film, which follows the final broadcast of a popular radio show, features Kline, Madsen, Reilly and Streep as well as Woody Harrelson, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Modine. The Hollywood Bowl is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, CA. Tickets are available by calling (323) 850-2000. Visit www.hollywoodbowl.org for more information.

Lindsay Lohan, Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly and Lily Tomlin will all sing on the soundtrack to the movie “A Prairie Home Companion.” The album from the Robert Altman film will come out May 23 on New Line Records, Billboard.com reported. The album will also include original songs written and performed by “Prairie Home Companion” host Garrison Keillor and his Shoe Band, Billboard said. New Line is releasing a 25-track CD along with a deluxe edition that includes a DVD of music outtakes from the film based on Keillor’s radio show. The film is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters June 6.

The San Francisco Film Society, presenter of the San Francisco International Film Festival (April 20-May 4) features Robert’s Altman latest movie, “A Prairie Home Companion”, for the Closing Night of the Festival, on May 4, at 7.00pm, at the Castro Theater. Tickets for the general public are $25 and will be available on April 4—Tickets for San Francisco Film Society members are $20 and will go on sale on March 28. For more ticket information please visit http://www.sffs.org.

According to German news sources, actors George Clooney, Isabella Rossellini, Meryl Streep and Isabelle Huppert, among others, are all expected to attend the Berlin Film Festival this year. Meryl’s new film, “A Praire Home Companion”, will have its world-premiere at the festival. Screening dates and official announcements on the attending guests will be made in early February.

The Berlinale Competition is screening the world premiere of A Prairie Home Companion (USA), an ensemble comedy by master director Robert Altman. The story is about a legendary radio show which is taken off the air after thirty years. Altman, the winner of several Berlinale prizes, has assembled an unparalleled cast of stars, including Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly. Visit the Berlinale’s Official Website.

Yet another festival release for “A Prairie Home Companion”: The 2006 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, TX will open on March 10th with the North American premiere of Robert Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” organizers announced Monday. The festival will conclude on March 18th. “Prairie” was acquired by Picturehouse back in October and is described as a fictionalized look at preparations for what could be the final episode of Garrison Keillor’s legendary radio program, exploring the fallout over a big corporation buying the theater home of the weekly radio show. According to Picturehouse, “As passions erupt, secrets emerge and a mysterious stranger lurks in the shadows, the vigilant stage manger must hold it all together since the ‘show must go on’.” Set for a June release, the film was written by Altman and Keillor. You can read the complete article here.