Meryl Streep addressed her highly-anticipated role in Big Little Lies Season 2 for the first time during an appearance at the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday, teasing her character’s place on the show and what made her join the cast in the first place. “I loved this show, I was addicted to it,” Streep said of Season 1. “I thought it was an amazing exercise in what we know and what we don’t know about people, about family, about friends, how it flirted with the mystery of things. What was unsaid, unshown, unknown, was the gravitational pull of the piece. It was so exciting. When I got the chance to join the crew, I thought ‘Yeah!’ I wanted to be in that world. The world that was created was amazing.” Streep will play Mary Louise Wright, mother of the late Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård) and mother-in-law of Celeste (Nicole Kidman). “The dynamic between Celeste and me … Hmmm! I do love [Nicole], and I do love her. That’s the only thing I’ll tell you about my character,” Streep teased. She appeared at the TCA panel alongside BLL creator/write David E. Kelley and co-stars Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Kravitz, Shailene Woodley, and Laura Dern. Pictures from the TCA have been added to the photo gallery.

In January 1979, the “Holocaust” miniseries was broadcast for the first time in West Germany. The series – the first of its kind to cover the genocide during World War II to widespread public attention – was watched by 20 million people, or 50 percent of West Germany’s population. With an estimated viewership of up to 15 million households, the series turned out to be extremely popular during its initial airing, leading to an increased public interest in the crimes committed during the Nazi era. After each part of Holocaust was aired, there followed a companion show wherein a panel of historians answered questions from people phoning in. The historians’ panels were overwhelmed with thousands of phone calls from shocked and outraged Germans. By this time, “Holocaust” was already a critical success, earning 15 Primetime Emmy nominations with 8 wins, including for Outstanding Limited Series and for Meryl Streep’s performance as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. To honor the series’ legacy, numerous German television stations will broadcast re-runs of “Holocaust” throughout January. The re-runs will be accompanied by a new documentary on the making of the series. Director Marvin J. Chomsky will be interviewed for the program alongside actors Michael Moriarty, Rosemary Harris and Blanche Baker. The documentary will be first aired on January 14, 2019, at 22.10pm on WDR. It will be also shown on NDR and SWR throughout January. If you haven’t seen the miniseries yet, here’s your chance to see a piece of television history. Edit: The documentary can be now watched on-demand in Germany. Unfortunately, while it’s a fantastic programme on the making of “Holocaust”, it features nothing on Meryl Streep except for a couple of scenes from the series.

Today, “Mary Poppins Returns” releases theaters in the United States and Europe, destined to dominate the Christmas box office of 2018 and probably the awards season of 2019 with a predicted Best Actress nomination for Emily Blunt. The reviews have been good so far, ranging from “it’s a new classic” to “it’s not a classic”, so I guess those interested in the film will get a chance to see where it ranks – starting today! Since this is probably the last update of Simply Streep for 2018, the release of the film would not be complete without a proper press coverage of reviews and articles on the film, including a nice cover story from Radio Times in the United Kingdom, as well as a cover story with Meryl in the latest issue of Yours. In America, you can grab a special edition of People Magazine, featuring exclusive interviews with Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Meryl Streep. There are also some “leftovers” from the “Mamma Mia” and “The Post” promotion from earlier this year. Many many thanks, as always, to Alvaro for providing the scans. To all the visitors of Simply Streep, I would like to wish you great Holidays and a good and healthy start into 2019! See you next year. Frederik :-)

Yesterday, Meryl Streep attended the London premiere for “Mary Poppins Returns”, which turns out to be the season’s most anticipated film, and, even more surprisingly, a serious awards contender for Best Picture and Best Actress. Many pictures have been added to the video archive. A video clip of Meryl being interviewed at the premiere can be found below.

Before Mary Poppins Returns arrives in movie theatres December 19, take a look at the below featurette, in which the stars and creative team discuss the joy behind bringing the magical nanny back to the screen. The original Disney film is nearing its 55th anniversary, and naturally, the prospect of returning to that world was daunting. But looking at the source material (P. L. Travers’ series), director Rob Marshall realized: “There was a real sense that there’s so much more story to be told.” Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have penned a new score for the story—one that star Lin-Manuel Miranda asserts is filled with “incredible, enchanting original music.” “This is a film with great hope and spectacle,” adds Emily Blunt, who takes on the title role this time around, amid clips filled with laughter, dancing, and dayglow animation. “And it’s moving, so I think it’s a very important film to be making right now.” The all-star cast of the new movie also features Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, and Dick Van Dyke. The featurette can be found in the video archive, while screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Entertainment Weekly spills all the secrets on this month’s “Mary Poppins Returns” with the stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manual Miranda gracing the cover. Here’s an excerpt from Meryl’s interview: As Topsy, the three-time Oscar winner has a scene-stealing supporting role in Walt Disney Pictures’ Mary Poppins Returns (in theaters Dec. 19). Streep’s character, who is a cousin to Mary Poppins, is an oddity who involuntarily spends every second Wednesday upside down. She visits to the Banks to fix family heirloom and sings the jazzy “Turning Turtle.” Streep took the role solely to work with Rob Marshall, who directed her in 2014’s Into the Woods. “Rob knew that I wanted in on whatever it was he did next. But I had no idea what he had in his head. And when he [and producer John DeLuca] invited me to talk through this idea, I thought, ‘They’re crazy, these two. They’re just insane. They’ve lost their minds,'” Streep, 69, says with a laugh in in Entertainment Weekly’s Nov. 16 issue (out now). “But It was such a big vision, and it was so ambitious that I said, ‘Oh, well, I want to be in it. Absolutely. Right away.'”

Working with the living legend was a dream come true for Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays a lamplighter named Jack. “One of the greatest moments I experienced on set was Meryl. She was sort of in weird Mary Poppins aunt mode the whole time, and at one point she goes, ‘Hey, kids, wanna see a perfect pratfall?’ And just boom, face down, went from 90 degrees to flat. You haven’t seen Buster Keaton do a pratfall like this. Everyone rushed over like, ‘Meryl Streep has died!'” he recalls. “And then she just got up and was like, [wiping hands] ‘I learned that at Yale.'”

“Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States and is already available on demand, so you can basically find it EVERYWHERE to own or rent. Those of you who have seen it in the theater (which includes probably everyone) know that Meryl Streep’s Donna, although talked about in length, is limited to a cameo performance by the end of the film – singing two songs nevertheless. So if you’d like to revisit her renditions of “My Love, My Life” and “Super Trouper”, make sure to grab your copy, or get the soundtrack, or both. Over 300 screencaptures from the Blu-Ray have been added to the photo gallery. Enjoy!

Bustle has an in-depth article on “Mary Poppins Returns”, Rob Marshall’s work behind the scenes and news on which songs will be performed – brace yourself for a musical number with Meryl Streep: Mary Poppins Returns is Blunt’s “third film with Meryl Streep,” the actor says, referencing The Devil Wears Prada and Into the Woods. “What a stalker she is.” In the film, Streep plays a character named Topsy, adapted from P.L. Travers’ books, who is an Eastern European distant cousin of Mary’s and lives in a fixit shop that turns upside down every Monday. Sounds a bit like Uncle Albert and his penchant for levitation, doesn’t it? The movie’s production designer teased some fun instrumental moments in Streep’s big “Turning Turtle” musical moment, because Topsy is more apt to turn a broken instrument into something else rather than fix it. When Meryl was here,” Platt recalls of the actor’s time on set, “she turned to me and said ‘it feels like we’re giving a gift to the word.'” That’s the joy that everyone involved with the movie seems to be taking in telling this new story and singing these songs. You can read the full article at Bustle with many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up!

There’s no denying that the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have had a significant impact on Hollywood. But does that mean that the industry is in for a long overdue sea change? Not without taking the right action, and not without raising the right awareness. In “This Changes Everything”, director Tom Donahue and actress Geena Davis — who also founded the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media — reveal just how gender-biased the film industry really is, by laying bare the raw statistics and providing essentially irrefutable, numerical evidence as to how female filmmakers, actors and even behind-the-scenes crew members have been systematically discriminated against going back decades. The result is eye-opening, to say the least, but as the film makes abundantly clear, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Also featuring interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest names — including Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain and Natalie Portman – “This Changes Everything” isn’t just a telling exposé of the dark side of the industry. It’s also an affirming look at how people are willing to come together to change the situation for the better. “This Changes Everything” makes its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 1 hr. 37 min. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

“Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” is holding up at the box office at the second spot – adding $4.8 million to its haul – after this week’s release of the new “Mission Impossible” took the predicted first place with moviegoers. But “Mamma Mia” has another market to score – as long as Tom Cruise doesn’t start singing on “MI” – the film’s soundtrack is doing great numbers in various markets, including a No. 1 spot in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. After initially debuting inside the top 10 last week, the soundtrack that accompanies the second Mamma Mia! musical film has bolted to the top of the album chart in the U.K. According to the Official Charts Company, the upbeat collection shifted 35,000 equivalent units this frame, which was enough to land it on the throne. Judy Craymer told OfficialCharts.com: “It is fantastic news that the soundtrack to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again has gone to Number 1. It’s the celebration of our wonderful cast featuring Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Andy Garcia, Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and Meryl Streep – and of course Cher, singing Fernando.” Many thanks to Glenn for collecting all these information. Much appreciated!