It’s my great pleasure to announce a new section to Simply Streep – the Fan Sightings. Over the years, many fans and visitors of Simply Streep were fortunate to meet Meryl Streep at events, such as film festivals and premieres. So I have created a new section to collect those stories. You can already read two stories online – one by Simona, who met Meryl at the 2009 Rome International Film Festival, and one by Miri, who met Meryl last November in Beijing at the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture. If you have met Meryl and would like to share your story, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll feature your story as well. You’re welcome to include pictures or memorabilia to share with the visitors. If there are more questions, feel free to ask :-) And now, enjoy the stories.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine L. Oliver will host the seventh annual “Made in NY” Awards on June 4th at Gracie Mansion. The awards are given each year to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to various fields in the City’s entertainment and digital media industries. The 2012 “Made in NY” honorees include: Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer Robert De Niro; Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep; Academy Award, Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner Whoopi Goldberg; actress and television host Kelly Ripa; award-winning transmedia company @radical.media, which develops, produces and distributes innovative content across all forms of media; and the locally based Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects. This year’s “Made in NY” Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement will be presented to actors and legendary husband-and-wife comedy team Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

This week’s spotlight covers “She-Devil”, Susan Seidelman’s 1989 comedy about a frumpy housewives revenge after being left by her husband for a beautiful, rich author. New DVD screencaptures from the film have been added to the image library, as well as three video clips from the film. Production notes and my review can be found after the cut. As always, please share your thoughts about the film in the comments. Enjoy your Sunday!

This month, Meryl Streep, Bill Clinton, Jason Wu, Alec Baldwin, and Yo-Yo Ma are linking arms to take part in the RFK Center’s fifth annual online auction to support human rights worldwide. The RFK Center launched its 5th Annual Spring Auction today and will be open to bidders through May 17. The auction features nearly 100 incredible adventures donated by A-list supporters of the organization, with more celebs joining every day. Meryl has donated two premiere tickets for the New York premiere of “Hope Springs” this August (likely August 6 but not guaranteed). You can find all auctions here and Meryl’s auction in particular here. Thanks to everybody for the heads-up!

The Charlie Foundation will honor Meryl Streep this September at the Third International Symposium: Dietary Therapy for Epilepsy & Other Neurological Disorders at the Chicago Hilton Indian Lakes Resort. The Charlie Foundation was founded in 1994 after twenty month old Charlie Abrahams, having endured multiple daily seizures, and failed every available anti-convulsant drug and one brain surgery, was cured of his epilepsy by the ketogenic diet at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The diet was undertaken despite resistance from the five pediatric neurologists he had seen. When Charlie’s parents realized that Charlie was but one of hundreds of thousands of children whose families were either not being informed, or being misinformed about dietary therapy, they started The Charlie Foundation. Meryl Streep, a friend of the Abrahams family, hosted a public serive announcement for the foundation in 1994, which can be watched in the video archive. In 1997, Abrahams and Meryl Streep produced the ABC television movie “First do no Harm”, fictionalising a particular case of a young boy with the disease. The film draws many parallels to the Abrahams family’s experiences. Several minor characters in the film are played by people who have been on the ketogenic diet and had their epilepsy “cured” as a result. The gala celebration honoring Meryl will take place on September 21, 2012.

Yesterday, Meryl has attended the opening night of “An Early History of Fire”, the world-premiere of David Rabe’s new play. Pictures have been added to the image library with many thanks to Joan for the heads-up!

Two new video clips have been added to the archive. First, a stars’ salute to the 100th anniversary of Universal Studios, featuring bits from Kirk Douglas, Meryl Streep, Tipi Hedren, Danny DeVito, Charlize Theron and many more. Then, a trailer for the upcoming documentary “Radioman”, a former homeless man whose unparalleled obsession with the movies has taken him from sleeping on the streets to becoming a New York City movie legend with over 100 small parts in films to his name. The documentary features interviews with many of the celebrities who know him, including George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Sting, Robin Williams, Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep.

Yahoo Movies has posted an excerpt of one of the Blu-Ray documentaries on “The Iron Lady” – creating Margaret Thatcher – in which Oscar-winner Mark Coulier talks about the process of transforming Meryl into Margaret. Lots of new footage from behind the scenes is shown. The full documentary and more featurettes can be found on the Blu-Ray, which is available in the US since April 10 and in the UK since today.

The movie of the week comes a day earlier this time and will be covered on Sundays from now on. This week it’s “Adaptation”, an important role in Meryl’s career since it literally gave her on-screen legacy a second prime in 2002 – and a thirteenth Oscar nomination. The image library has been updated with DVD screencaptures, three new clips have been added to the video archive (trailers and interviews have been re-added in better quality). As always, production notes and review below. Please let me know what you think of “Adaptation” in the comments.

A couple of new magazine scans have been added, featuring articles from the USA, the UK, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Especially interesting is Entertainment Weekly’s Summer Preview with a first in-depth article on “Hope Springs”. Many thanks to Alvaro and Jitka for contributing the scans. Enjoy reading!

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Empire Magazine (United Kingdom, June 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Total Film Magazine (United Kingdom, May 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Entertainment Weekly (USA, April 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Marie Claire (Czech Republic, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Weekend Magazin (Austria, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Die ganze Woche (Germany, February 2012)