According to The Daily Fairfield,A certain property on Wilson Avenue is beginning to look like a movie set — and with good reason. “Great Hope Springs” will begin shooting there Monday. The movie stars Connecticut resident Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell. Carell plays a marriage counselor trying to help Streep and Jones in the comedy. A Norwalk resident noticed Tuesday that trailers were being set up along the waterfront behind 300-310 Wilson Ave., a huge warehouse formerly used by ShowMotion, Inc. He saw equipment being carried in and recognized it as movie equipment. Norwalk Police Lt. Paul Resnick, who said he serves as Norwalk’s liaison to the film industry when they are in town, confirmed that “Great Hope Springs” will begin shooting at the spot Monday. Workers, who said they were from New York, gave the same information, adding that sets were being built inside the warehouse.

Article courtesy Publisher’s Weekly: On August 16th, HighBridge Audio will release the audio version of Paul Farmer’s Haiti After The Earthquake — narrated by Meryl Streep. Farmer, the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was at work on a development plan in Haiti when the earthquake of 2010 hit the country. Suddenly, his project was transformed into a massive international rescue and relief effort — which Farmer and his colleagues chronicle in Haiti After The Earthquake. In addition to Streep, the audiobook is narrated by an ensemble cast that includes Edoardo Ballerini, Eric Conger, and author-narrators Edwidge Danticat, Nancy Dorsinville, and Michèle Montas-Dominique. The audio book can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com.

More insight on Meryl Streep’s preparation to play “The Iron Lady” comes courtesy The Telegraph: Bell Pottinger, the PR company founded by Tim Bell, coached Rebekah Brooks for her appearance before the House of Commons Committee for Culture, Media and Sport last week. But Brooks’s unconvincing performance was not in the same league as Lord Bell’s first PR triumph – Margaret Thatcher. With the late Sir Gordon Reece, he moulded Baroness Thatcher’s public persona – down to the bouffant hairdo and pearls. This is why the producers of The Iron Lady, scheduled for release next January, signed up Stephen Sherbourne, until recently Lord Bell’s right-hand man, to help Meryl Streep with her portrayal of Lady T. Sherbourne said there was little to add to the actress’s extraordinary insight into her subject: Miss Streep had read a great deal about the former PM, knew about the workings of Parliament and was in superb command of her brief. If only the same could be said of Rebekah Brooks.

According to The Day Connecticut, “Great Hope Springs” has found its locations in Mystique to start filming most probably in late September and early October. The full article has more information courtesy the film’s location manager. “Great Hope Springs” centers around a middle-aged couple, played by Jones and Streep, who attend an intense counseling weekend to decide the fate of their 30-year-old marriage. Carell plays the relationship guru who counsels them. The Sony Pictures film, which is slated for a late 2012 release, is being directed by David Frankel of “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Fantastic news! According to Pathe, we’ll be able to get a first look at the highly anticipated “The Iron Lady” teaser trailer when it goes live exclusively on The Guardian website and on BBC Breakfast after 8:30am on July 7. Be sure to find it on Simply Streep as well, after its broadcast. Edit: The teaser – which is running for roughly a minute – can be now watched in the video archive.

Many thanks to Simona for contributing scans from the July 2011 issue of the Italian CIAK magazine. They’re covering “The Iron Lady”.

Pathe Productions Ltd. has released a brand new production still from “The Iron Lady” – it’s stunning how much Meryl resembles Margaret Thatcher. Check it out in the image library.

According to this source, in just a few months locals may run into Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones or Steve Carell around the streets of Mystic. The three are the stars of a movie that could begin filming in Mystic at the end August or September. Mandate Pictures is considering Mystic for some of the filming of the feature film Great Hope Springs. On Friday, Mandate Pictures, which is based out of Santa Monica, California said they did not have anything definitive on where the filming would take place. First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr., said he expected a decision to made on the film within the next week or so. According to Haberek studio representatives had looked at locations in Mystic several weeks ago. Great Hope Springs, according to a press release from Mandate Pictures follows Streep who plays a woman named Maeve seeking to spice her marriage up. Maeve and her husband (Jones) go to the town of Great Hope Springs to meet relationship guru (Carell) for “an intense week of marriage and sex therapy.”

The Weinstein Company has released its list of releases for their upcoming films. “The Iron Lady” will release US theaters on December 16, 2011 – just in time to compete for the 2012 awards season. Other international dates so far are January 06 in the UK and January 12 in Germany.

Additional on-set pictures from “The Iron Lady”, taken in March 2011, have been added to the gallery. Enjoy!