The Daily Mail has a very extensive and interesting article on “The Iron Lady”, including some quotes by Meryl’s co-star Richard E. Grant, who will be playing Michael Hesletine in the film. The fulll article can be read here: Meryl Streep, attired with uncanny accuracy as Margaret Thatcher, is shooting a scene from the forthcoming film Iron Lady. Striding down a parliamentary corridor in power suit and pearls, her blonde wig coiffed to replicate the distinctive Prime Ministerial hair-do; her voice crisp with authority, Streep, it seems, has perfectly caught the power and allure of our first female PM. But then the cameras stop rolling and an unexpected transformation takes place. She shrugs off the mask of political gravitas, kicks the air with her court-shoed heels and bursts into a chorus of Abba songs. Richard E. Grant, who plays Mrs Thatcher’s political nemesis Michael Heseltine in the film, watched with amusement and delight as Streep – who won plaudits as Abba-loving Donna in the blockbuster movie Mamma Mia! – performed an impromptu medley of songs from the film.

We were doing a scene in which Mrs Thatcher walks down a corridor with a group of ministers. Between shots, Meryl, still suited and bewigged as Mrs T, sang the Abba hits. It was so incongruous and hilarious and it sums up her humour and sense of mischief. It’s naff to say it, but Meryl makes you feel better about yourself. As an actress, she’s the best of the best. But she’s also unbelievably down-to-earth. She knew everyone on the set by name. She’s appreciative of what other actors do. She has no entourage. It’s like working with a British theatre actress: very unexpected and disarming in someone who has 16 Oscar nominations and two Academy Awards in the bag.

The Daily Mail has published a brand new production still from “The Iron Lady” as well as some more background information on the upcoming release.

Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent show their true – blue – colours as they portray former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis. It’s a recreation of the 1980 Conservative Party conference at Brighton, when the Fighting Lady (as Time magazine dubbed her that year) put the country on alert over battles with unions regarding pay and jobs. It was also the time when she made her famous ‘You turn if you want to: the Lady is not for turning!’ speech, although the speech itself is not included in the segment.

Director Lloyd and the picture’s writer Abi Morgan use the conference to demonstrate Mrs Thatcher’s dominance of, and popularity within, her party – as well as her deep unpopularity in the other half of the nation. Outside the Grand Hotel and the all-blue iron curtain of the Tory Party faithful, thousands of protesters had marched on Brighton to express their anger at Mrs Thatcher’s policies, many of which were seen as Draconian. Some within her party were a bit wobbly, too, but Mrs Thatcher would not stand for any dissent. The film shows many high (and low) points of her life and career but overall, it is a portrait of a woman whose steely resolve dominated the British political landscape. “The film covers a big spectrum of her life in order to sum up the kind of person she was, and why she has this iconic status,’ an executive on the picture told me. Alexandra Roach portrays the young Margaret; Harry Lloyd is the young Denis; and Olivia Colman (brilliant in forthcoming film Tyrannosaur) plays Mrs Thatcher’s daughter Carol. As I mentioned before, Meryl buried herself in research on her subject, and was also advised by a line-up of Tory insiders. A friend who visited the set said there was a scary moment when Meryl was spotted with prosthetic make-up as the former PM in later retirement. ‘I thought I was staring at Maggie for real! Meryl’s not impersonating Maggie – she is the very essence of her,’ I was told.

Meryl has been helped in achieving the full Maggie look by hair and make-up expert J. Roy Halland, while Consolata Boyle, who created the clothes for The Queen, has designed costumes for The Iron Lady. She and her team tirelessly researched the six decades of Mrs Thatcher’s political career. For instance, Ms Boyle tracked down the creators of Mrs T’s iconic blue blouse with the pussy-bow collar (the one Meryl is seen wearing in Alex Bailey’s photograph) and recreated it, as she did her blue suit. And Meryl’s dresser Jane Law studied newsreel footage so she could recreate Mrs T’s look to a T. The movie, produced by Damian Jones, Pathe and Film 4, may not be ready for any of the autumn film festivals such as Toronto and Venice – although in order to qualify for the Oscars it will have to open in Los Angeles and New York by the end of December. At the moment, Pathe is provisionally set to release it here in the UK on January 6, 2012.

Between April 18 and April 28 eBay will host charity auctions for Mother’s Day gifts donated by celebrity moms to support women-oriented charities. They will also help Women for Women International raise money for its programs for women survivors of war through several celebrity charity auctions on eBay Giving Works eBay’s charity fundraising program. Women for Women will auction off three unique celebrity experiences: a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Ashley Judd, a red-carpet experience and meet-and-greet in the U.K. with Meryl Streep during the premiere of her new film, “The Iron Lady,” and a trip to New York to visit with kate spade’s creative director Deborah Lloyd, plus a $1000 kate spade shopping spree.

Here’s another fantastic treasure from the past. In December 1981, Meryl Streep, Donald Sutherland and Richard Chamberlain honored actress Helen Hayes at the Kennedy Center Honors. The appearance can be now watched in the video archive with captures being added to the image libary. Enjoy!

Many thanks to Elmira for submitting a scan of Total Film’s May issue, featuring a brief article on “The Iron Lady”.

Yesterday, Meryl has attended Good Housekeeping’s Annual Shine on Awards, as earlier reported. Pictures from the event have been added to the image library.

Here comes a very rare and fantastic new find courtety the exceptional Bobbie Wygant Archives. In late 1982, she interviewed Meryl for the theatrical release of “Sophie’s Choice”. The full eight minutes interview video can be watched in the video archive – captures can be found in the Image Library. Enjoy and be sure to pay Miss Wygant’s website a visit.

On Tuesday, April 12, Good Housekeeping salutes nine extraordinary women whose combination of intelligence, imagination and nerve is changing women’s lives forever at “Shine On,” a special one-night-only theatrical event at Radio City Music Hall with special appearances by two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, three-time Grammy Award winner Trisha Yearwood in her first New York City performance in five years and Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn. Highlights of the evening will include a special tribute to Elizabeth Taylor by business partner and friend Kathy Ireland and an opening performance by Grammy Award-winner Eve, who wrote an original song for the occasion. The star-studded event benefits the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C., which is dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the diverse historic contributions of women. Tickets for the one-night-only show are available at www.goodhousekeeping.com/shine-on.

I’m sure this will make your Sunday. On her first cover for 2011, you’ll have a hard time figuring out that it’s indeed Meryl Streep. For the Alumnae/i Quarterly magazine, Meryl transformed, with the help and stunning photography by Brigitte Lacombe, into Vassar founder Matthew Vassar. She helps to recreate the painting “Matthew Vassar, 1861“, commissioned by Vassar’s nascent Board of Trustees and executed by the distinguished artist Charles Loring Elliott, upon the founding of the college.

Many thanks to Simona for providing these two fantastic interviews for the video archive. In 2009, while Meryl Streep was visiting the Rome International Film Festival to promote “Julie & Julia”, two interview specials were produced by the festival for Italian television – Incontro and Viaggio Nel Cinema Americano – both very insightful and funny. The two specials can be now watched in great quality in the video archive. Thanks Simona! Enjoy watching.