According to the Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep has joined the cast of New Line Cinema’s “Rendition,” a political thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon and being directed by Gavin Hood. Written by Kelley Sane, the multilayered story centers on a CIA analyst (Gyllenhaal) based in Cairo who finds his world spinning out of control after he witnesses the interrogation of a foreign national by the Egyptian secret police. Witherspoon is playing the pregnant American wife of the national. Alan Arkin also has been cast, playing a senator. Streep is a government official who orders the rendition of the national. Shooting is under way in Los Angeles. The production also will shoot in Washington, Morocco and South Africa. Read the full article here.

USA Today has published reactions and condolences from many of Robert Altman’s colleagues and actors, including Meryl Streep. Her statement is below, the full article can be read here.

“Bob’s restless spirit has moved on – I have to say, when I spoke with him last week, he seemed impatient for the future. He still had the generous, optimistic appetite for the next thing, and we planned the next film laughing in anticipation of the laughs we’d have. What a gent, what a guy, what a great heart. There’s no one like him and we’ll miss him so.” – Meryl Streep

The cast of “A Prairie Home Companion” has been nominated for a Gotham Award in the “Best Ensemble Cast” category, alongside the casts of “Babel”, “For Your Consideration”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Shortbus”. The Gothams, which will be presented on Nov. 29 at New York’s Pier Sixty at the Chelsea Piers, also will recognize both Kate Winslet and Edward Norton with 2006 Gotham Tributes. Meryl Streep won the Gotham Tribute Award in 1999.

According to Variety, Tom Cruise May be ready to get back to work. Cruise is looking at three pics: two from majors (Warner Bros. and Fox), and one that’s being mobilized independently. The indie appears to be the favorite: “Lions for Lambs,” a political drama revolving around a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Scripted by Matthew Carnahan (“State of Play”), the project is shaping up with Robert Redford likely to direct as well as play a role. This is of course not official – as the article states at the end: There are no guarantees on any pic. In February, Cruise looked seriously at a trio of films, none of which he took.The full article can be read here.

In an interview with the French press to promote “The Devil Wears Prada” last week, Meryl Streep talked about her upcoming role in “Evening”: “I’m making a very small film. I just decided to do it last week and I’m doing it next weekend. I play a very old woman, a friend of Vanessa Redgrave in a movie called “Evening”. My best friend is dying… it’s about an older woman, Vanessa, looking back at her life and it’s a wonderful cast, including… my daughter who is playing me – younger. She has the big part – I have a litte part”.

Uniting a stellar cast, Evening begins filming in Rhode Island this week for Focus Features. The Hart Sharp Entertainment production, adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham from Susan Minot’s best-selling novel of the same name, is directed by Lajos Koltai. The cast of Evening includes Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Natasha Richardson, Dame Eileen Atkins, Mamie Gummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Glenn Close, and two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. The drama explores the romantic past and emotional present of Ann Grant (played by Redgrave) and her daughters, Constance (Richardson, who is also the real-life daughter of Redgrave) and Nina (Collette). As Ann lays dying, she remembers, and is moved to convey to her daughters, the defining moments in her life 50 years prior, when she was a young woman (played by Danes). Gummer and Streep, who are mother and daughter in real life, are portraying Ann’s college friend Lila as a younger and older woman, respectively. Click here to read the complete article.

Meryl and the cast of “The Devil Wears Prada”, as well as its director David Frankel are attending the 2006 Venice Film Festival to promote the European premiere of their film, which will be shown at the festival on September 10. “The Devil Wears Prada” is running out of competition.

According to Playbill, Kevin Kline will play the role of the Cook opposite Meryl Streep in the Aug. 8-Sept. 3 Central Park staging of Brecht’s classic Mother Courage, Playbill.com has learned. He replaces the previously announced Christopher Walken. Walken left the production “due to scheduling conflicts,” according to the Public. Production dates will remain the same. Opening night is Aug. 21. The Kline and Streep casting brings with it echoes of the Public Theater’s 2001 revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which featured the two actors. The two are also well known for their pairing in the film “Sophie’s Choice.” Mother Courage will be the first of two Public assignments Kline will essay this year.

According to Playbill, Christopher Walken will play the critical role of Cook in the Aug. 8-Sept. 3 Central Park staging of Brecht’s classic Mother Courage, starring Meryl Streep in the title role. Walken and Streep appeared together in the Public Theater’s 2001 revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which also played the Delacorte Theatre. Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline, or Change) has penned a new adaptation of the war drama. Kushner’s Caroline, or Change collaborator Jeanine Tesori has created original music. George C. Wolfe will direct. The cynical Cook is one of the mercenary Mother Courage’s few constant companions as she and her children trudge through the bloody and pointless (in Brecht’s depiction) Thirty Years War. Streep caused a sensation in 2001 when she returned to the New York stage after a long absence to appear in a Mike Nichols rendition of Chekhov’s The Seagull in Central Park. Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman and Philip Seymour Hoffman also starred in that staging.

According to ComingSoon.net, Aidan Quinn has joined the cast of the independent feature Dark Matter as production is underway in Salt Lake City. Quinn, who portrays a science professor in the film, is working with a renowned international cast that includes Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, Tony Award winner Blair Brown and Chinese star Liu Ye, who makes his American film debut. Dark Matter is financed by American Sterling Productions (ASP) and is produced by ASP in association with Saltmill LLC. Myriad Pictures is handling the films worldwide distribution. “We’re very honored to have actors in this cast who amaze us daily with their talent and generosity. It is a blessing to have an actor I’ve long admired, Aidan Quinn, join our production in such an important role,” said director Chen Shi-Zheng, who co-wrote the story with Billy Shebar, the film’s screenwriter. Dark Matter marks Chen’s transition to film from theater, where he is a renowned director. Inspired by a true story, Dark Matter depicts the humor, frustration and heartbreak that results when different cultures collide and communication falters. The film follows the story of Liu Xing, a brilliant Chinese science student, who strives to impress his mentor Jacob Reiser (Quinn) with his theories on the origins of the universe. Helping Liu Xing adapt but unable to protect him from academic politics are Joanna (Streep), a patron of the university with a passion for all things Chinese, and Hildy (Brown), Reiser’s secretary. “‘Dark Matter’ is a cross-cultural story, a sort of Spaghetti Eastern,” explains Chen Shi-Zheng. “It is about what happens when people from different cultures interact in a highly competitive environment, and the roller coaster ride of excitement, anxiety, and missed opportunity those interactions bring about.”