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 USA Today, Meryl Streep won’t be stealing any scenes in her next gig. The Oscar-winning actress narrates Hurricane on the Bayou, shot before and after Hurricane Katrina, MacGillivray Freeman Films announced Wednesday. The documentary will open in New Orleans on Aug. 29 to mark the anniversary of Katrina’s surge through the Gulf Coast, the company said. It will be released in Los Angeles on Sept. 8 and in IMAX theaters worldwide on Dec. 22. “Meryl Streep’s ability to connect with audiences and the depth she brings to everything she does makes her the ideal narrator for this film, which has so many moods,” director-producer Greg MacGillivray said in a statement. MacGillivray said Hurricane on the Bayou is a call to restore Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, which help protect New Orleans against deadly storms, as well as a “profound musical celebration of a city that has been called the soul of America.” The film stars music producer-songwriter Allen Toussaint, blues singer-guitarist Tab Benoit, 14-year-old fiddler Amanda Shaw and zydeco accordion player Chubby Carrier.

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.

“The Devil Wears Prada,” a satire starring Meryl Streep as the editor of a woman’s fashion magazine, will kick off the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 22, eight days before its theatrical release, organizer Film Independent said Tuesday. More than 265 feature films and shorts will be presented during the 10-day festival, to be held primarily at venues in and around Westwood for the first time. More information can be found at the festival’s Official Website.

Coinciding with the release of the new film “A Prairie Home Companion,” the Hollywood Bowl will present A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor June 2. The 8 PM evening at the famed outdoor theatre will be hosted by Garrison Keillor and will feature Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman and Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band. Special guests for the evening will include Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly and Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. “America’s favorite storyteller, Garrison Keillor,” reads production notes, “brings us The News From Lake Wobegon plus special guests for a live performance of the ever-popular radio show. It’s an evening of music, storytelling, comedy and down-home fun.” Robert Altman directed “A Prairie Home Companion,” which is due in movie theatres this summer. The film, which follows the final broadcast of a popular radio show, features Kline, Madsen, Reilly and Streep as well as Woody Harrelson, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Modine. The Hollywood Bowl is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, CA. Tickets are available by calling (323) 850-2000. Visit www.hollywoodbowl.org for more information.

Meryl Streep is narrating a pair of children’s classics, “The Velveteen Rabbit” and “The Night Before Christmas,” that will be released later this year as audiobooks at Starbucks coffeehouses. “This is continuing our commitment to providing customers with compelling family entertainment titles,” Starbucks Entertainment President Ken Lombard told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The audiobooks feature musical accompaniment by George Winston, the Edwin Hawkins Singers and others. After an initial four-month run at Starbucks, Random House Inc.’s Listening Library will give the recordings a general release. Starbucks Corp. has been expanding its entertainment offerings over the past few years, releasing CDs by Ray Charles and the Rolling Stones, among others, and promoting the movie “Akeelah and the Bee.” The company recently announced an alliance with the William Morris Agency, a talent and literary agency that will help Starbucks identify music, film and book projects to consider for marketing and distribution in its stores.