Without any advance publicity or notice, The Weinstein Company quietly slipped the Chinese animated feature The Guardian Brothers onto Netflix last Friday. It was originally released on January 1, 2016, in China as Little Door Gods, marking the debut production of Beijing’s Light Chaser Animation. The ambitious production aimed to lift the quality of Chinese cg animation and push it closer to Western standards. Weinstein’s English version added a cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Edward Norton, Mel Brooks, Dan Fogler, Mike Birbiglia, Bella Thorne, and Randall Park. Rooted in the traditions of Chinese folklore, Guardian Brothers follows two guardian spirits – Yu Lei (Norton) and Shen Tu (Fogler) – who venture out of spirit-world retirement to help a mother and daughter whose restaurant is being sabotaged by a competitor. The Weinstein Company released Guardian Brothers through its new kids’ label Mizchief. It also has another animated film, Leap!, currently in U.S. theaters through the label. Netflix has made the film available in a total of 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, Mexico, U.K., New Zealand, India, Philippines, and Russia. The above trailer also features interviews Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Edward Norton. Many thanks to Alvaro for the heads-up.

The United States were born on July 4, 1776 when the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence declaring the 13 American colonies a new nation: The United States of America. Now, on its 241st birthday, HBO and documentarian Alexandra Pelosi are celebrating the occasion with The Words That Built America, a film that features all six living presidents, six vice presidents, as well as senators, congresspeople, governors, and celebrities in an unabridged reading of the authentic words from the documents that created our democracy: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Directed by Alexandra Pelosi, “The Words That Built America” premieres July 4 at 7PM on HBO, and will be available for free at youtube.com/HBO and watch.hbo.com. A full list of participants can be found on Simply Streep’s career page. Also, likewise from the voice department, Meryl has participated in a feature length documentary, Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray, an intimate portrait of the groundbreaking artist that explores the relationship between Murray’s family life and career and reconsiders her place in the contemporary art history. Trailers for both programmes have been added to the video archive.

CBS Sunday Morning has had a nice report on the Yale Rep’s 50th anniversary, including an interview with Meryl Streep. “The Rep” — what insiders call the Yale Repertory Theatre, now marking its 50th season. It’s a unique entity on the American theater scene, a place where graduate students at the Yale Drama School work side-by side with experts in every aspect of theater. Some of the students who have trod these boards include Liev Schreiber, Angela Bassett, Paul Giamatti, Frances McDormand, Lupita Nyong’o and Henry Winkler. But the classes of 1974 and ’75 are probably the most famous: Actress Sigourney Weaver; Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang and costume designer William Ivy Long; and Meryl Streep, who put on a false nose for a play called “The Idiot’s Karamozov.” “Oh, my God, it’s unnervingly close – yeah, that was fun!” said Streep. “You didn’t try to look beautiful!” laughed Braver. “No, that wasn’t the aim! And I succeeded.” “But it’s one of things that I think has made your movies so wonderful, because although you look beautiful in a lot of them, you don’t seem to care whether you do or not.” “Well, there are so many different kinds of people to play, and not all of them have long, blonde hair. So I realized that if I wanted to have an interesting career, you’ve just got to upend people’s expectations.” The complete article can be read here, the video can be found in the video archive, and screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Besides her film work, a big part of Meryl’s career consists of narrations for television programs, documentaries and feature films. It’s a wide range of interests, from human rights and nature to art and music. And probably even something for her children to watch (The Simpsons and King of the Hill). Especially in her feature voice work, it’s amazing how even animated characters come to life through her voice, just have a look at the amazing “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the equally odd but entertaining “Higglety Pigglety Pop” from 2010. Three new categories have been added to the video archive, Narration: Film & Television, Narration: Documentaries and Miscellaneous Productions with over 50 additions of excerpts, behind-the-scenes recordings and trailers. Also, make sure to visit the career page to learn more about these projects. Enjoy.

Video Archive – Career – Narration: Film & Television
Video Archive – Career – Narration: Documentaries
Video Archive – Career – Miscellaneous Productions

Yesterday in New York, Meryl Streep presented the 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award to composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim at the PEN America Literary Gala, at the American Museum of Natural History. Sondheim has delighted audiences worldwide for more than six decades with witty lyrics, contagious melodies, and unforgettable characters that comprise some of America’s most beloved and timeless musicals such as West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George, which just completed its Broadway revival starring Jake Gyllenhaal. He is also the winner of at least 60 individual and collaborative Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Pictures can be found in the photo gallery and Meryl’s introduction can be watched below and in the video archive.

Since yesterday’s update on the video archive (and lamenting on how long it may take to have it completed), I’ve been on a good roll, thanks in particular to the bad weather, and have finished all remaining categories. The news segments are now done with all clips from 2010 to 2017, including lots of entertainment shows interviews and red carpets bits. The public appearances feature all kind of press conferences, conversation panels and premieres and the miscellaneous section boasts a great collection of vintage and recent public service announcements, and basically everything that doesn’t fit into the other categories. I’m sure there are still some clips missing, and some waiting to be discovered. But for now, that big part of Simply Streep is back and ready to be discovered. Enjoy!

The video archive takes longer to be completed than I have expected, simply because there are so many videos left to be added. But at least I’m making progress. Today, clips from news segments, ranging from 2006 to 2010 have been added. Within these 5 short years, Meryl’s career blossomed from “the star of the old days” to a global superstar, thanks to the successes of “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Mamma Mia”, not to mention the releases of “Doubt”, “Julie & Julia” and “Its Complicated” within a year. It has been great to revive all these clips from international promotion tours and red carpets, and to be reminded that HD isn’t that old fashioned – most of these clips are in a rather bad quality – but Simply Streep wouldn’t be a proper archive without this “old stuff”. I’ll do my best to finish the news segments and also the other remaining categories to have the video archive finished in time. Until then, enjoy the new old additions.

On this day 40 years ago, Meryl Streep was first seen by a broad television audience in the CBS movie of the week “The Deadliest Season”. In it, Michael Moriarty plays a hockey player who struggles with getting older and uses more and more violent tricks on the field to remain in form, until one of his actions land him in court. Meryl Streep plays his wife, which says pretty much everything about her character – there’s not much to do or anything poignant to say (if you don’t count “When I watched you in a game it turned me on”). This short period of being an unknown film actress lasted for only a year until her breakthrough performances in “The Deer Hunter” and “Holocaust” in 1978, so it’s kind of fun to see Meryl Streep in a bit part, and how she manages to give this character depth and meaning after all. For more information about the film, visit the career page with additional production notes and pictures. To celebrate its anniversary, six exclusive clips have been added to the video archive, with many thanks to Simona for helping me out. Enjoy!

In January, Meryl Streep has lent her voice to the online platform “Now This” tribute video to 100 Years Of Women’s Health Care At Planned Parenthood – “the little-known history behind America’s most famous health care provider” and its trailblazer Margaret Sanger. Additional voices are provided by Jennifer Lawrence, Mindy Kaling, Amy Schumer, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Lena Dunham, who also co-directed the video with Natalie Berkus, Kirsten Lepore and Alex Ronan. Many thanks to Alvaro for the heads-up.

A new trailer released on Tuesday reveals that Meryl Streep narrated the three-part docuseries, which is adapted from Mark Harris’ book of the same name and features interviews with Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Greengrass, and Lawrence Kasdan. Directed and produced by Laurent Bouzereau and written by Harris, Five Came Back offers a deep dive into Hollywood’s role in World War II by following five filmmakers who travelled to Europe to document the war effort: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. In the process of making the series, Bouzereau and his team collected over 100 hours of archival and newsreel footage; watched over 40 films from the five directors; and studied an additional 50 studio films and over 30 hours of outtakes and raw footage from their war films. “Five Came Back” debuts March 31 on Netflix. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.