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!

According to Deadline, “The Post will be hitting theaters much sooner than we have thought. Steven Spielberg only said yes this past Monday to direct Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in the Fox/Amblin co-production and they’ve all been clearing their schedules to start production in late May. Deals are still being finalized, but that means the film will be ready for release to qualify for this coming Oscar season. As AwardsWatch continues in a second artice, Spielberg was prepping The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara for a 2017 release (and was heavily predicted by the Gold Rush Gang in those first predictions) and is in post- production on Ready Player One (set for March 2018). That opens up the schedules of Mark Rylance and Oscar Isaac, both set to star in Mortara (but also opens up their Oscar chances in other 2017 films). Hanks was ready to start the WWII thriller Greyhound but now that’s pushed back. This marks Hanks’s fifth collaboration with Spielberg. Streep is currently filming Mary Poppins Returns in London but will be long finished by the time The Post begins. Many thanks once again to Frank for the heads-up.

A nice batch of additional production stills have been uploaded to the photo gallery. Some have been updated before without further mentioning, so be sure to check all last added pictures. Among the highlights are surely the on-set pictures from “Julia”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Sophie’s Choice” and “Heartburn”, as well as new production stills from “Ironweed”. Many thanks to Alvaro for finding some of these. Enjoy.

On April 19, the Academy of American Poets will hold its annual Poetry & the Creative Mind celebration at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, hosted by Meryl Streep. The event celebrates poetry’s important place in our culture and its impact on the lives of readers, and features leading and legendary actors, dancers, artists, musicians, and public figures on one stage sharing their favorite poems. The always inspiring evening is a benefit, which raises funds to support the educational programs of the Academy of American Poets. Meryl Streep is a longtime supporter of the Academy of American Poets, having attended the Poetry & the Creative Mind seven times between 2004 and 2014. You can learn more about the academy and her previous appearances here. For tickets and more information about the April 19 event, please visit their official website. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

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.

Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks will share the screen together for the first time in the upcoming drama “The Post”, about the Washington Post‘s role in unveiling the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Deadline, which first reported the news, indicates renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg will helm the film, though representatives for the director did not immediately return EW’s request for comment. The publication also notes the planned production’s spec script, by Liz Hannah, revolves around editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) and his publisher, Katharine Graham (Streep), as they railed against the federal government’s opposition to the Post‘s rights to publish the documents, which detailed the country’s questionable military actions and political maneuvers in Vietnam. Fox and Amblin Entertainment will reportedly co-finance production, with the former handling domestic distribution. The Post marks Spielberg’s fifth collaboration with Hanks, following Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, and Bridge of Spies. Streep previously voiced the Blue Fairy character in the director’s sci-fi flick A.I.: Artificial Intelligence in 2001. Further details regarding the film, including a release date and production timeline, have yet to be announced.

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.

The 89th Annual Academy Awards will go down in history for its shocking false announcement in the Best Picture category, which made one forget about the pointless Lagerfeld tabloid story (although Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist to ask, “nice dress. Is that an Ivanka?). Kimmel pulled no punches during his opening monologue, joking that the 20-time-nominee was getting a bit too much credit for her acting chops. “We’re here to honor the actors who seem great, but actually really aren’t. And of all the ‘great’ actors here in Hollywood, one in particular has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances,” Kimmel dead-panned. “From her mediocre early work in ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Out of Africa,’ to her underwhelming performances in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ Meryl Streep has phoned it for more than 50 films over the course of her lackluster career.” Kimmel finished things off by asking everyone else in the auditorium to show their appreciation for the actress. “This is Meryl’s 20th Oscar nomination,” he pointed out. “Made even more amazing considering the fact that she wasn’t even in a movie this year, we just wrote her name down out of habit. Everybody, please join me in giving Meryl Streep a totally undeserved round of applause.” The evening went as expected – until its very unexpected end – with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Meryl’s friend Viola Davis and Javier Bardem paying tribute to Meryl’s performance in “The Bridges of Madison County”, before joining her on stage to present the Best Cinematography category to Linus Sandgren for “La La Land”. Pictures from the (apparently very brief) arrivals and the show have been added to the photo gallery. Many thanks to Lindsey for her contributions. Enjoy, and goodbye to the 2017 awards season!

Meryl Streep has attended Friday’s 10th Annual Women in Film cocktail party on the same day she has become tabloid fudder (let’s just not talk about it). Streep slipped past the press line, momentarily pausing to affectionately refer to BBC News as “another beauty” (a subtle dig at President Trump, who had pointed at a reporter from the outlet during his recent press conference and proclaimed, “There’s another beauty”). The actress made her way inside the party and blended into the crowd — and then, folks demanded a speech. So she obliged. “I feel like never saying anything again … forever,” she joked. “Because everybody is speaking up and that’s great. Because with the numbers, they can’t ignore us. And we are 51 or maybe 52 percent now of the population.” Streep went on to share a quick story about her high school years and how an exchange student from Afghanistan reminded her of how far women around the world had come. “Stuff can change, and you have to really feel the earth move under your feet,” she noted. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep will have another opportunity to confront president Donald Trump (I think she won’t) at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday. The actress, who has earned more nominations than any other actor in history from the Academy, famously called out Trump during her acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes in January, in which she chastised the president for mocking The New York Times’ Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter. Streep also defended her anti-Trump speech, as well as voiced support for transgender rights, at the Human Rights’ Campaign 2017 Greater New York Gala dinner earlier this month. Now, the Academy has officially announced that Streep will be one of the presenters at the Oscars on Sunday night. Also announced as presenters were former Oscar winners Matt Damon, Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty and Octavia Spencer as well as Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling, Salma Hayek, Dev Patel, and Taraji P. Henson. Jason Bateman, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston and Sofia Boutella will also present. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.