The Iron Lady has gotten some weighty support. The Meryl Streep biopic about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was picked up for distribution in the United States by The Weinstein Co., which has a good track record with British biopics. Last year, Harvey and Bob Weinstein steered The King’s Speech through a contentious award season to an ultimate Best Picture win at the Academy Awards. They are likely to push for a repeat of that recent history with this film, which focuses on the 1982 Falklands War and co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent as Thatcher’s husband, Denis. Phyllida Lloyd, who worked with Streep on Mamma Mia!, is directing. The pick-up news came out of the Cannes Film Festival today, where footage from the unfinished movie was shown to potential distributors at the world’s biggest film market. “Having worked with both Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent, I know that they are without peer as film actors. Even so, I was absolutely blown away by what I saw of their performances as Margaret and Denis Thatcher. Phyllida is doing an incredible job,” Harvey Weinstein said in a statement. He said The Iron Lady would be released by the end of 2011, naturally — which would qualify it for the next awards race.

The Daily Mail has a very extensive and interesting article on “The Iron Lady”, including some quotes by Meryl’s co-star Richard E. Grant, who will be playing Michael Hesletine in the film. The fulll article can be read here: Meryl Streep, attired with uncanny accuracy as Margaret Thatcher, is shooting a scene from the forthcoming film Iron Lady. Striding down a parliamentary corridor in power suit and pearls, her blonde wig coiffed to replicate the distinctive Prime Ministerial hair-do; her voice crisp with authority, Streep, it seems, has perfectly caught the power and allure of our first female PM. But then the cameras stop rolling and an unexpected transformation takes place. She shrugs off the mask of political gravitas, kicks the air with her court-shoed heels and bursts into a chorus of Abba songs. Richard E. Grant, who plays Mrs Thatcher’s political nemesis Michael Heseltine in the film, watched with amusement and delight as Streep – who won plaudits as Abba-loving Donna in the blockbuster movie Mamma Mia! – performed an impromptu medley of songs from the film.

We were doing a scene in which Mrs Thatcher walks down a corridor with a group of ministers. Between shots, Meryl, still suited and bewigged as Mrs T, sang the Abba hits. It was so incongruous and hilarious and it sums up her humour and sense of mischief. It’s naff to say it, but Meryl makes you feel better about yourself. As an actress, she’s the best of the best. But she’s also unbelievably down-to-earth. She knew everyone on the set by name. She’s appreciative of what other actors do. She has no entourage. It’s like working with a British theatre actress: very unexpected and disarming in someone who has 16 Oscar nominations and two Academy Awards in the bag.

The Daily Mail has published a brand new production still from “The Iron Lady” as well as some more background information on the upcoming release.

Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent show their true – blue – colours as they portray former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis. It’s a recreation of the 1980 Conservative Party conference at Brighton, when the Fighting Lady (as Time magazine dubbed her that year) put the country on alert over battles with unions regarding pay and jobs. It was also the time when she made her famous ‘You turn if you want to: the Lady is not for turning!’ speech, although the speech itself is not included in the segment.

Director Lloyd and the picture’s writer Abi Morgan use the conference to demonstrate Mrs Thatcher’s dominance of, and popularity within, her party – as well as her deep unpopularity in the other half of the nation. Outside the Grand Hotel and the all-blue iron curtain of the Tory Party faithful, thousands of protesters had marched on Brighton to express their anger at Mrs Thatcher’s policies, many of which were seen as Draconian. Some within her party were a bit wobbly, too, but Mrs Thatcher would not stand for any dissent. The film shows many high (and low) points of her life and career but overall, it is a portrait of a woman whose steely resolve dominated the British political landscape. “The film covers a big spectrum of her life in order to sum up the kind of person she was, and why she has this iconic status,’ an executive on the picture told me. Alexandra Roach portrays the young Margaret; Harry Lloyd is the young Denis; and Olivia Colman (brilliant in forthcoming film Tyrannosaur) plays Mrs Thatcher’s daughter Carol. As I mentioned before, Meryl buried herself in research on her subject, and was also advised by a line-up of Tory insiders. A friend who visited the set said there was a scary moment when Meryl was spotted with prosthetic make-up as the former PM in later retirement. ‘I thought I was staring at Maggie for real! Meryl’s not impersonating Maggie – she is the very essence of her,’ I was told.

Meryl has been helped in achieving the full Maggie look by hair and make-up expert J. Roy Halland, while Consolata Boyle, who created the clothes for The Queen, has designed costumes for The Iron Lady. She and her team tirelessly researched the six decades of Mrs Thatcher’s political career. For instance, Ms Boyle tracked down the creators of Mrs T’s iconic blue blouse with the pussy-bow collar (the one Meryl is seen wearing in Alex Bailey’s photograph) and recreated it, as she did her blue suit. And Meryl’s dresser Jane Law studied newsreel footage so she could recreate Mrs T’s look to a T. The movie, produced by Damian Jones, Pathe and Film 4, may not be ready for any of the autumn film festivals such as Toronto and Venice – although in order to qualify for the Oscars it will have to open in Los Angeles and New York by the end of December. At the moment, Pathe is provisionally set to release it here in the UK on January 6, 2012.

Between April 18 and April 28 eBay will host charity auctions for Mother’s Day gifts donated by celebrity moms to support women-oriented charities. They will also help Women for Women International raise money for its programs for women survivors of war through several celebrity charity auctions on eBay Giving Works eBay’s charity fundraising program. Women for Women will auction off three unique celebrity experiences: a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Ashley Judd, a red-carpet experience and meet-and-greet in the U.K. with Meryl Streep during the premiere of her new film, “The Iron Lady,” and a trip to New York to visit with kate spade’s creative director Deborah Lloyd, plus a $1000 kate spade shopping spree.

Deadline has, once again, the exclusive scoop on “Great Hope Springs”: “I’m told that Tommy Lee Jones has surfaced as the front-runner to play Meryl Streep’s husband in the David Frankel-directed Great Hope Springs. Mandate Pictures recently set Streep as one half of the troubled couple and Steve Carell to play the marriage therapist who tries to help rekindle their loveless relationship after 31 years of marriage. It’s their last shot before divorce. Vanessa Taylor wrote the script. Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Film 360’s Guymon Casady are producing. Shooting starts in August.” Personally, while I am still not sure if this film is going to happen this soon – I consider Mr. Jones the best actor of his time, so he would be a perfect match for Meryl Streep.

A new picture from yesterday’s filming of “The Iron Lady” has been added. It’s a case of BIN there, done that for the Iron Lady… as these latest pictures from the filming of her life story show. Trademark handbag by her side, Mrs T, played by a ­spookily similar-looking Meryl Streep, has to fight her way past vast piles of rubbish bags in a ­recreation of 1979’s ­Winter of Discontent. Shortly after, Thatcher led the Tories to victory – and 11 years in Downing Street. The Iron Lady, due in cinemas at the end of the year, tells how Britain’s only female Prime Minister rose to power.

In a recent article by Deadline on a new collaboration for Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman, the director and author who helmed “Apdation” in 2002, there’s word on another possible project that Kaufman is aiming at and – according to this source – has gained Meryl’s interest. “It’s not the only Kaufman project in the mix. I’m told he’s looking to direct his script Frank Or Francis. The film chronicles a volatile back and forth between a film director (Frank) and an online blogger (Francis), who takes delight in berating his cinematic talent. The project’s at Sony Pictures for the moment, and names like Adaptation’s Meryl Streep being talked about for roles.” The complete article can be read here.

News on the previously mentioned “Great Hope Springs” have been slow lately. Although it was promoted as a done deal back in Autumn 2010, there hasn’t been any news on the comedy drama ever since. Now, Deadline not only reports that director Mike Nichols has been replaced by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada), but also that Steve Carrell has been cast as the couple’s therapist (thanks for those letting me know since I originally wrote he was cast as the husband). As the husband, the latest news have been on James Gandolfini. No further sources or dates have been published. Personally, I think this is not close to being official as of now – especially since the first article says that Meryl is “in final negotiations” while the second article quotes the first one by saying she “officially signed on”. Let’s wait :-)

Brand new pictures from the “Iron Lady” set, taken on February 15, 2011, have been added to the image library. In the scenes currently being shot in South London, Mrs Thatcher is seen confronting protesters in the 1980s who are angry about job cuts and the introduction of the controversial poll tax.

Pictures from the set of “The Iron Lady”, taken on February 11 2011, have been added to the image library.