Also yesterday, Meryl Streep was all smiles while hitting the red carpet at the premiere of her film Florence Foster Jenkins held at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 Theater on Tuesday (August 9) in New York City. She was joined by her co-stars Hugh Grant, Nina Arianda and Simon Helberg. Meryl recently opened up about her and Hugh‘s love in the film and how it should not be dismissed in spite of the infidelities. “I think especially, peering into other people’s relationships, it’s almost always not what you think it is from the outside, and I think it’s an accurate portrayal of realistic, delusional love,” Meryl explained (via CBS News). “It’s realistic because it is what it is and there is illusion and they both prop up… in this bubble of happiness.” “I mean one of the genius things that Stephen did that’s embedded in the film is even in the margins, you feel the warmth,” Meryl added. “There’s so many analogies to now, figuring out what makes life worth living. Love and art, as far as I’m concerned, is right smack in the middle. So the compromises that people make to keep their happiness intact — I think that’s all in the service of good.”

A big batch of additional production stills and on-set pictures from “Florence Foster Jenkins” have been added to the photo gallery. Also, UK fans will have to wait less than a month to own the film on home video. After its theatrical release in May, “Florence Foster Jenkins” will hit the UK market on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 05, 2016 – only weeks after the film’s US release.

Article courtesy The Boston Globe: Meryl Streep had a very busy week, even for her. She gave a shout-out to Hillary Clinton at the DNC; inked a contract to appear in “Mary Poppins Returns” – a movie musical from “Hairspray” creators Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman that will also star Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda – and geared up for the Aug. 12 rollout of the biopic “Florence Foster Jenkins.”

Still, there she was Saturday, alongside her former Yale Drama School classmate John Shea at a benefit for the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket. (Surprisingly, it was Streep’s first time on the island.) The handsome Shea, who’s perhaps best known for playing Lex Luthor in the ’90s TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” got his start as a TWN apprentice in 1968 and has remained ever grateful. TWN, which had no rivals when it was founded in 1956, had fallen on hard times before Shea took the reins as artistic director seven years ago — for the munificent fee of $300 per season, according to his wife, sculptor Melissa McLeod. Saturday’s benefit drew some 240 high-rollers to the Nantucket Hotel’s ballroom at a cost of $2,500 per person — and $50,000 for the privilege of booking Streep’s table, a fee gladly forked over by prominent DC lawyer (and TWN board member) Max N. Berry. Other high-profile attendees included film producer Armyan Bernstein, who directed Shea in 1984’s “Windy City” (and followed his friend’s lead in acquiring a summer home on the island), and benefactress-about-town Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google ex-CEO Eric Schmidt), looking Titania-like in a sleek silver-beaded silk chiffon shift.

Streep’s contribution to the cabaret show, performed with Shea and their fellow Yale classmate Joe Grifasi, was a silly spoof of “Medea” penned way back when by then-fledgling playwrights Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein.

Here comes a great new interview from the September issue of the Wall Street Journal, accompanied by a stunning pictorial by Brigitte Lacombe: When Meryl Streep steps from her limousine onto the red carpet in London’s Leicester Square, everything about her comportment—as she strikes poses with castmates Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg, greets fans along the stanchions and hugs past co-stars like Stanley Tucci who’ve turned out for her—announces that she’s been here before. “It’s quite a scene, isn’t it?” she later says about the glittery film premiere. “It doesn’t get old. I mean, who gets to see a movie with 1,600 people?” With her hair in an elegant but simple updo, Streep confidently strides the red carpet in a black silk jumpsuit, heeled ankle boots and a long, beaded statement necklace. As she reaches the entrance to the theater, the emcee for the event introduces the star of Florence Foster Jenkins to a cheering crowd. He then asks her, “We know you can sing, because we heard you sing in Mamma Mia. So how difficult is it to sing badly?” She smiles. “Surprisingly easy.” The complete article can be read over at The Wall Street Journal.

Everytime my emails are flooded with expletives and “I’ll never watch any of your movies again”, I know that Meryl Streep has been possibly doing something political the day before :-) On Tuesday, Streep has attended the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night to draw attention to the historic moment of Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president, the first time a woman has earned the honor for a major political party. “What does it take to be the first female anything? It takes grit and it takes grace,” Streep said. In her praise of Clinton, Streep mentioned that the Democratic nominee “has taken some fire over 40 years, over her fight for families and children. Where does she get her grit and grace?” While celebrating other famous female firsts throughout American history, Streep also focused on the road ahead — and beyond.”You people have made history, and you are going to make history again in November, because Hillary Clinton will be our first woman president,” she told the crowd. “She will be the first, but she won’t be the last.” Her speech can be watched in the video archive, screencaptures and pictures from the convention and the rehearsals have been added to the photo gallery.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg have attended the New York press conference for “Florence Foster Jenkins”. The film, which has had a successful run in the United Kingdom back in May, will premiere in US theaters this August. Besides a couple of pictures, a full video from the press conference has been added as well. The video can be watched here. Also, a video transcript of the DGA Theater Q&A for “Florence Foster Jenkins” with Meryl Streep and William Ivey Long has been added as well. Edit: Pictures from the New York Screening and Q&A have been added, with many thanks to JustJared.

I’ve spent the week without an iternet connection, so most plans for “The Devil Wears Prada” related updates fell flat. But, as Miranda Priestly would have said, “Details of your incompetence do not interest me”. So, a nice btch of additional production stills and promotionals from the film have been added to the photo Gallery. Many thanks to Marci for helping me with this one.

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, her mother and daughters Sasha and Malia were joined by Meryl Streep in Morocco’s Marrakesh on Tuesday on a six-day tour to try to promote girls’ education. More than a third of Morocco’s population of 34 million is illiterate – one of the highest rates in North Africa, and the rate is higher for women at 41 percent, official data shows. The U.S. government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was launched during her visit and includes US$100 million to be spent on 100,000 Moroccan students, half of whom will be teenage girls. The funds come from US$450 million given by the MCC last year to boost education and employability in Morocco. Michelle Obama stepped up her campaign for girls’ education after Islamist group Boko Haram seized 276 girls from their school in Nigeria in 2014 and she highlighted their plight through a Twitter hashtag, #BringBackOurGirls. She spent Sunday and Monday in Liberia, where she visited a U.S. Peace Corps site and a school with President and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, promoting Let Girls Learn, a U.S. government initiative begun with her husband in 2015.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep paid tribute to friend and collaborator Elizabeth Swados, who passed away this January, with a special reading of “Walking the Dog” at the Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York. Pictures from the event have been added to the photo gallery. Tomorrow marks Meryl Streep’s 67th birtdhay, so make sure to watch one of her movie in celebration.

On Monday, Meryl Streep unveiled Stephen Frears’ charming “Florence Foster Jenkins” in New York’s Director’s Guild Theater for an A list crowd including Renee Fleming (who introduced the film), Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin and Barbara Walters. Tony winning costume designer William Ivey Long – who’s also the head of the American Theater Wing – did a little Q&A on stage after the screening. Streep and Long met at Yale Drama School in 1972, so they had an easy rapport. Pictures from the screening and Q&A have been added to the photo gallery.