Yesterday, Meryl Streep was named Best Actress in a Comedy for “Florence Foster Jenkins” at the 22nd Annual Critics’ Choice Awards, “beating out” Kate Beckinsale, Sally Field, Kate McKinnon and Hailee Steinfeld. Her fellow “Florence Foster Jenkins” nominees didn’t fare as good – costume designer Consolata Boyle and supporting actor nominee Hugh Grant remained nominees. Meryl did not attend the ceremony so no pictures or videos. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

Awards season is starting these days with the first groups of critics and award juries announcing their nominations and winners. Among the first are the Satellite Awards (who seem to nominate anyone who’s been mentioned a favorite in the awards communities) and the Critics Choice Awards (ditto). Meryl Streep has received nomination from both organizations for “Florence Foster Jenkins”. The Satellites have nominated Meryl as Actress in a Motion Picture and Hugh Grant as Best Supporting Actor. The Critics Choice Awards, which split their acting categories into Best Actress, Best Actress in an Action Movie and Best Actress in a Comedy has nominated Meryl in the latter category, with additional nominations for Hugh Grant (Best Actor in a Comedy) and Consolata Boyle (Best Costume Design). It’ll probably take until December 12’s Golden Globe nominations and the Screen Actors Guild nominations two days later until we find out if Meryl will be a bankable player in the Best Actress field this year. If not, we still have the Globes’ Lifetime Achievement Award to look forward to.

Awards season is slowly starting in Hollywood these days, and if you’ve put your money on Meryl Streep, I’m sure you didn’t have this honor in your cards. Streep and Jeffrey Kurland (Inception) will both take home trophies at the upcoming Costume Designers Guild Awards. The event, presented by Lacoste, is set to take place Feb. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Streep has been tapped for the distinguished collaborator award while Kurland, who counts more than 40 credits on his résumé, will be honored with the career achievement award. Of Streep and Kurland, CDG president Salvador Perez said, “As leaders of their respective crafts, their work has influenced and entertained us for decades and continues to do so. We are thrilled to be honoring them both this year.” With the distinguished collaborator honor, Streep joins a roster of honorees that includes Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Helen Mirren, Judd Apatow, Clint Eastwood, Rob Marshall, Jim Burrows and Lorne Michaels. Previous recipients of the career achievement award include Ellen Mirojnick, Julie Weiss, April Ferry, Eduardo Castro, Judianna Makovsky, Colleen Atwood, Sandy Powell and Ann Roth. In more predictable news, Meryl has received a nomination as Best Actress at the Satellite Awards. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

Florence Foster Jenkins is taking another bow. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Meryl Streep-starrer will return to select AMC theaters Dec. 2. Locations include Chicago, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, New York and Seattle, among other cities. In its initial run, the Paramount film grossed $27 million. Streep, who will receive the Cecil B. Demille Award at the 2017 Golden Globes, received some awards buzz for her portrayal of the real life heiress who was determined to give a concert at Carnegie Hall despite her subpar vocal skills. The film will be released on DVD on Dec. 13.

A new selection of international magazine scans have been added to the photo gallery, coming from Spain, the United States, Australia and Germany. They’re all covering the international releases of “Florence Foster Jenkins”, and the Australian Women’s Weekly has recycled More Magazine’s cover story with Michelle Obama and Meryl, adding a wonderful outtake in the article. As always, many thanks to Alvaro for sending them in. Enjoy.

Look who’s made a surprise visit to today’s Tokyo International Film Festival – surprising at least for me since I didn’t know about. Meryl is in Tokyo for the city’s film festival and presentation of “Florence Foster Jenkins”. Speaking on the film, Streep said: ““I did try to learn how to sing these arias properly, so I got a very, very good, true opera coach and he taught me the arias correctly. And then in the last two weeks of a two-month preparation… we just, what’s the nice word, screwed around with them. Somehow I pulled it off.” American socialite Foster Jenkins craved fame as a diva but instead gained notoriety for her terrible singing voice. The 29th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival will screen 16 films in competition chosen from some 1,500 works sent in from 96 countries and regions.

Today, Meryl Streep held court at the 11th Rome Film Festival, attending a photocall and press conference for the Italian premiere of “Florence Foster Jenkins”, as well as a conversation panel called “Meryl Streep meets the Audience”. No conversation these days is complete without questions about Donald Trump, and Streep, who has appeared in a PSA to support Hillary Clinton last week, had little to say about the candidate: “I don’t feel that I have to make any further pronouncements on the sexism of the Trump campaign. I think they’re doing a very good job on their own. Or he’s doing a good job on his own. I’m not sure his campaign knows quite what to make of it.” Hopefully, more information on the press conference and panel with be added soon. For now, enjoy the pictures.

This update comes with a story, a personal one for Simply Streep. As you know this website runs in its 17th year, which is insane – it’s probably older than many of our visitors. Back in 1999, when I started this as a project, it was way harder to get hold of material. A fellow German, Anke, who has been a tremendous help over the years, sent me a VHS tape with some of Meryl’s talkshow appearances she did in the late 90s, among them her first visit on David Letterman’s late show, one of her first talkshow appearances. I had to learn the hard way that American NTSC tapes could not be played properly on European PAL recorders (in case any of you remembers a video cassette), so all faces turned out green like the Incredible Hulk and it was almost impossible to watch. I tried just about everything to get a video copy for Simply Streep, but nothing worked out. So I just settled and thought, with Youtube and other sources emerging, “one day it’ll be on Youtube”. That thought came and went for the past 17 years.

Well, mark you calendars. Today, with many thanks to Youtuber Daniel Poitras, the Letterman appearance has been posted in its entirity, and in good old fashioned VHS quality. The interview runs for a whopping 13 minutes, which is so much more than today’s talkshow snippets. Also, she gives the best excuse for declining to appear on Letterman’s show for 20 years. I’m so happ to finally add this to the archive, it makes Simply Streep feel a whole lot more complete. Enjoy the clip and make sure to view the screencaptures in the photo gallery.

As previously reported, Meryl Streep will be a guest at this year’s Rome International Film Fetival. On October 20, Streep will be attending a question-and-answer session for fans as part of the promotional tour for British director Stephen Frears’ “Florence Foster Jenkins”. Tickets will go on sale October 06. For a full programme of films and conversation panels, visit the festival’s programme. Many thanks to Glenn and Simona for the heads-up.

Some news on the aforementioned sequel, courtesy VineReport and CinemaBlend. Over 50 years after its initial release, Mary Poppins still remains one of Disney’s classic hits, blending live action and animation to create a heartwarming (if not completely faithful) adaptation of P.L. Travers’ original work. While most never imagined the House of Mouse would make a Mary Poppins 2, this has finally come to pass decades later, as Mary Poppins Returns will arrive in the next few years. One of the actors participating in this follow-up is Hamilton superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda, and he recently provided a few tidbits about what moviegoers can expect from the sequel. Speaking with Variety, Miranda slightly elaborated on Mary Mary Poppins Returns’ plot, including how his character, a lamplighter named Jack, specifically connects to Dick Van Dyke’s lovable Bert from the original movie. “Michael and Jane Banks have grown up, and they find themselves in their own spot, and Mary Poppins comes back to take care of Michael’s kids,” said Miranda. “I play a lamplighter named Jack who sort of grew up apprenticing to Bert. So I know if Mary Poppins shows up, it’s gonna get awesome. I perform that function in the movie, of saying: ‘Y’all don’t know about Mary Poppins. When Mary’s around, cool sh– happens.'” Miranda stated that he would be in London during the first half of next year to film the sequel. During the interview, he also said that he would love to meet Van Dyke. Well, he might get his wish soon because it is rumored that Van Dyke and original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, might appear in the sequel. The two actors have yet to confirm or deny this as of the moment, so readers are advised to take this rumor with a grain of salt. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep is going to play a character named Topsy Tartlet, and sources say Ben Whishaw may be portraying Michael. Directed by Rob Marshall, Mary Poppins Returns hits theaters on December 25, 2018.