Article courtesy USA Today: The Streep-inator is about to strike again. Action hero Harrison Ford was once the superstar staple of the summer blockbuster season, but now Oscar’s favorite leading lady, Meryl Streep, is making a habit out of cashing in on the busiest moviegoing period of the year with female-oriented counterprogramming. First, her fashionatrix in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Then came last year’s disco diva in Mamma Mia! Combined ticket sales: a solid $268.8 million in the USA and Canada and $929.2 million worldwide. Next, Streep juggles pots, pans and pâté in what promises to be a deliciously rich portrait of Julia Child during the decade-long span when she evolved into America’s queen of French cuisine in Julie & Julia. Joining her is Amy Adams, her nun sidekick from Doubt, as blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year toiling over all 524 recipes in Child”s classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Director/writer Nora Ephron, who did the screenplays for Streep”s Silkwood (1983) and Heartburn (1986), says the actress basically did an informal audition for her a couple of Junes ago when they bumped into each other at New York”s Shakespeare in the Park. “It was before I even started writing the script,” the filmmaker says. “She asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “Blah, blah, Julie Powell, Julia Child, 524 recipes.” She went into Julia as we were walking out of the theater. She did her for a full 10 seconds. I think she even said, “Bon appétit,” ” the late chef”s famous sign-off from her PBS cooking show. “I thought, “OK, look no further.” ” Once Prada opened, Ephron says, “I knew if I could get her, not only would she be the best person for it, but she would also force the studio to make the film. She was a movie star at age 57 or whatever she is.” The full article can be read in the press section, a second article by USA Today on director Nora Ephron can be read here.

At Sony Pictures’ special ShoWest presentation of their summer line-up, ComingSoon.net had a chance to view some all-new footage from the studios’ planned summer releases, which span a fairly diverse variety of genres. They showed the first trailer for Julie & Julia (August 7), starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, which essentially showed the plot of how Amy Adams’ character, unsatisfied with her life and career, decides to start a blog where she cooks her way through Julia Childs’ “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 Days. Based on Julie Powell’s book, it tells the story of the two women, acting as a biopic for Julia Childs, who we see making her way into the French culinary circles, as well as an inspirational story about Adams’ character. There’s a nice moment between Streep and Stanley Tucci, who plays Julia Childs’ husband. (We actually had a chance to see this trailer a few weeks ago, and it looks like a sweet movie.)

Meryl Streep has won this year”s Pantene Best International Actress Award for her performance in Mamma Mia! at the IFTAs which are due to be be held tomorrow in The Burlington Hotel in Dublin. The awards also will be broadcast on RTÉ One tomorrow night. The category is voted for by the general public and celebrates the outstanding female talent in the film industry. The other nominees in the category were Kristin Scott Thomas (“I loved You So Long”), Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”) and Emma Thompson (“Brideshead Revisited”). Stars of film and television are expected to attend tomorrow”s ceremony which will be hosted by RTÉ”s Ryan Tubridy.

Meryl Streep has won this year’s Screen Actors Guild Award as Best Female Lead for “Doubt”. “Can I just say there is no such thing as the best actress, you know? There is no such thing as the greatest living actress,” said Streep, the Academy Awards record-holder with 15 acting nominations, including one for “Doubt,” in which she plays an old-school nun in a war of wills with a priest. “I am in a position where I have secret information, that I know this to be true,” she said. “I am so in awe of the work of the women this year – nominated, not nominated – so proud of us girls. And everybody wins when we get parts like this.” This has been Meryl’s second win since 2003’s Angels in America.

Congratulations to Meryl Streep for winning her career’s 15th Oscar nomination. She was nominated as Best Actress for “Doubt”, alongside fellow nominees Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Maried), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River) and Kate Winslet (The Reader). Philip Seymour Hoffman received a Best Supporting Actor nomination while Viola Davis and Amy Adams were nominated for their supporting performances in “Doubt”. The film received a fifth nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Oscars will be presented on February 22 from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. The broadcast will air on ABC. Hugh Jackman is scheduled to host. A full list of nominations can be found on Oscar.com.

Meryl has been nominated as Best Actress for “Doubt” for a BAFTA Award. She shares this category with Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long) and Kate Winslet being double nominated (Revelutionary Road and The Reader). Congratulations also to Philip Seymor Hoffman for nabbing a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Amy Adams for receiving a Best Supporting Actress nod. “Mamma Mia” was able to score some nominations as well in the categories of Best Music (Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus) and Outstanding British Film. Producer Judy Cramer is nominated for the Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film. The BAFTA Awards will be handed out on February 08, 2009.

Meryl has won yet another Best Actress award for “Doubt”, this time a Critics Choice Award. The voting for Best Actress resulted in a tie between Meryl and Anne Hathaway for “Rachel Getting Married”. While Anne Hathaway was present to accept her award, Meryl was not. Her award was accepted by “Doubt” co-star Viola Davis on her behalf.

Meryl Streep has won a People’s Choice Award at yesterday’s ceremony, not for her acting skills but for her singing talents. She won in the category Favorite Song from a Soundtrack for Mamma Mia (from “Mamma Mia” ;-). Meryl did not attend the ceremony herself. Regarding her acting accolades, she has been also recently named Best Actress for “Doubt” by the Kansas City Film Critics Association.

With the awards season being in full bloom, speaking of the Film Critics awards, Meryl was chosen by both the Phoenix Film Critics Association and the Washington Film Critics Association as Best Actress for “Doubt” – and is further nominated in this category by the London Film Critics as well.

Consumers said “Gimme Gimme Gimme” to Mamma Mia! The Movie, the most successful film musical of all time worldwide, as first day domestic DVD and Blu-ray™ consumer spend totaled over $30 million. Universal Studios Home Entertainment sold over 2.25 million units of the Golden Globe® -nominated blockbuster on December 16, 2008. An unprecedented worldwide box office phenomenon, Mamma Mia! The Movie has already been proclaimed the fastest selling DVD of all time in the U.K. after first-day sales reached 1.6 million units, surpassing the previous decade-long record holder Titanic on November 24, 2008 by over a half-million units, or 50 percent of total sales.