Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced today that three-time Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep will narrate the audiobook edition of “Big Tree”. The illustrated novel by #1 New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Medal-winning author-artist Brian Selznick, will be released simultaneously in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook on April 4, 2023. A love letter to the natural world with over 300 pages of Selznick’s iconic graphite illustrations, Big Tree is an epic adventure and a breathtaking visual journey through time, nature and love that will thrill the whole family. The story, which began as an original idea from film legend Steven Spielberg, with guidance by Illumination founder Chris Meledandri, is Selznick’s most ambitious work to date. Featuring extensive sound design with natural sound effects, the audiobook edition will feature original music, giving listeners an immersive reading experience. Meryl Streep said, “With Big Tree, Brian Selznick has created a profound and lovely book. His quiet message – that even the smallest among us can do something to save the world, and that we’re all connected – is just what’s needed for the moment in which we find ourselves.” For more about Big Tree and to listen to an audiobook excerpt, visit www.scholastic.com/bigtree.

According to Variety, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation is set to break ground next month on a 15,000-square-foot facility at the union’s mid-Wilshire headquarters that will be a central hub for the foundation’s educational, career development and event activities in the Los Angeles area. The Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists will be built on the 10th floor of SAG-AFTRA’s longtime home in the famed Museum Square building. It’s expected to open its doors early next year, thanks to support from its namesake, the three-time Oscar winner who is one of the most renowned actors of all time. The facility will also feature the Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson Screening Room, equipped with high-end technology to host screenings, panels and educational programs. “We’re thrilled to name our new Center for Performing Artists in honor of Meryl Streep, a lionhearted leader and longtime supporter of our foundation whose commitment to her craft and her community is befitting of this recognition,” SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance said. “We are also excited to announce our new screening room will be named in honor of two additional champions of our foundation, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, whose key support, especially during times of crisis in our industry, has meant we never missed a beat when our members needed us.”

I’ve always thought that actors should have more places to go where they can not only fully express themselves – but grow professionally. The pandemic shook up our industry as we knew it, and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation was vital in assisting performers. That’s why I’m honored to have my name attached to a center where performing artists can come together to collaborate while getting the support and services they need. This exciting new space at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation will be a tremendous benefit to any performer who is looking to hone their craft and find community. (Meryl Streep)

Since its formation in 1985, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation has distributed more than $18.6 million in emergency financial and health assistance to actors as well as disaster relief. It has also given out more than $9.2 million in scholarship funds. The complete article can be read at Variety.

Apple TV+ today released the trailer for the highly-anticipated, star-studded, climate change-themed limited series “Extrapolations” featuring Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller and an all-star cast. The eight-episode series from writer-director-exec producer Scott Z. Burns premieres globally over the streamer with the first three episodes on March 17, followed by a new streaming episode every Friday through April 21. The massive star power of the series includes Oscar winners Streep, Forest Whitaker and Marion Cotillard along with Miller, Diane Lane, Judd Hirsch, Cherry Jones, David Schwimmer. Heather Graham, Tobey Maguire, Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Kit Harington and many others. Told over a series of interconnected episodes and produced by Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res, it’s described as a “bracing limited series that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population.”

While public appearances have become a rare treat since the pandemic, Meryl Streep has attended not one but two New York functions this week. On Monday, she honored author John Guare’s at 42nd Street’s “A Celebration to John Guare”. And on Thursday, she was among the many guests at the Broadway opening night of “Pictures from Home”, a new play starring Danny Burstein, Zoë Wanamaker and Nathan Lane. Pictures from both events have been added to the photo gallery. The video of her John Guare recital can be found below, with many thanks to Marci.

We are blessed this week with news on Meryl Streep’s upcoming productions with not only “Only Murders in the Building”, but also a first look at “Extrapolations”, which will premiere on AppleTV+ on March 17, 2023. While there haven’t been any news on the 8-part miniseries since its press release in November 2021, I was wondering if Meryl was really involved with the project after all. With today’s first look images and synopsis, I’m happily proven wrong. So far, we know that Meryl’s character is named Eve Shearer and that she plays Sienna Miller’s mother. The series boasts a powerhouse cast including Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Diane Lane, Kit Harrington, Marion Cotillard, Daveed Diggs, Edward Norton, Gemma Chan, David Schwimmer and Matthew Rhys. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

“Extrapolations” is a bracing drama from writer, director and executive producer Scott Z. Burns that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Eight interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every story is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?

What better way to start the new year with a new project for Meryl Streep, who is checking into “Only Murders in the Building”. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, Streep will appear in the third season of Hulu’s murder-mystery comedy. Star Selena Gomez revealed Streep’s casting in an Instagram post Tuesday. Details of Streep’s role – and how extensive it may be – are being kept under wraps for now. She joins a cast led by Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short; Paul Rudd – who had a cameo in the second-season finale – and former Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams are also joining the cast, which also includes Tina Fey, Vanessa Aspillaga, Adina Verson, Ryan Broussard and Andrea Martin. Hulu has said the show is its most popular original comedy; it spent nine weeks on Nielsen’s top 10 streaming series chart in 2022, drawing 3.67 billion minutes of viewing time in that span. Steve Martin also posted a group photo with Streep and announced that filming on season three of the series began. Both pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

According to Broadway World, the 92NY Unterberg Poetry Center’s 84th season will continue with a Winter/Spring lineup featuring beloved playwrights and actors, critically-acclaimed novelists and poets – and tribute events centered on Gwendolyn Brooks, John Guare and Philip Roth, among others. Details on Meryl Streep’s appearance be found below. For more information, visit www.92y.org/poetry

A CELEBRATION OF JOHN GUARE: Mon, Feb 6, 7:30 pm, From $40

An evening of words and music in celebration of playwright John Guare, whose theatrical works include Two Gentlemen of Verona, Lydie Breeze, Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves and Landscape of the Body . Tony Kushner cobbled together the lineup for this event, and he will produce it. Kushner wrote: “So enormous is the esteem in which I hold the Great Guare and his monumentally important body of work. Like Williams, he figured out a way for Americans to do a kind of stage poetry. There are astonishingly beautiful things in his plays.” Other performers and participants include: Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller, Ariana DeBose, Paul Dano, Suzan-Lori Parks, Linda Lavin, Dylan Baker, Kenneth Lonergan, Edie Falco, Zoe Kazan, Elizabeth Marvel, Stephen Adly Giurgis, Bill Camp, Camryn Manheim, Becky Ann Baker, Corey Hawkins, Linda Emond and Ato Blankson-Wood.

On this day 40 years ago, Universal Pictures released the film that would cement Meryl Streep’s status as one of the greatest living actresses, in a harrowing film about the effects of the Holocaust on people’s sanity and lives. The status remains, and so does the brilliance of her Academy Award winning peformance in “Sophie’s Choice”.

Imagine, only for a moment, if we would talk about Meryl Streep today had she retired her film career in 1982. The majority of us wasn’t born yet – and Streep had done only seven films in a rather short period on film. But for those she had amassed three Academy Award nominations and one win, in three Best Picture nominations with two wins, a breakout role on tv with an Emmy win and a splashy part in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”. Of the many talented new stars of the early 1980’s, Streep was “the one”. But it wasn’t until “Sophie’s Choice” that audiences and critics started labeling her “the greatest”. Had it been her last film, I’m sure we would still talk about this rather short career to this day, but probably within a much smaller group of film afficionados. Fortunately for us, Meryl Streep has entertained us with illustrious characters to this day. And 40 years after its release, “Sophie’s Choice” still reminds us that here is an actress that can do everything.

“Finale, Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim” is a new book written by D.T. Max and released on the one-year anniversary of Sondheim’s death this November. In an excerpt posted by Playbill, Sondheim and Meryl Streep talk about their very first collaboration in the 1974 production of “The Frogs” at the Yale Repertory Theatre – or, better said, at the University’s swimming pool.

I was in a production of The Frogs, which was at Yale when I was a first-year student. And I was in the chorus. And he was very legendary. I don’t think he even noticed me. But it was really hilarious. There was a lot of vying to get into the chorus from the women in the drama school because most of the cast were young men in bathing suits. Everybody wanted to be in the chorus! (Meryl Streep, Finale, Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim)

They also talk about the new song recorded for “Into the Woods”, which was eventually cut from the final version, and possible plans to work together in London, although nothing specific is revealed by Sondheim. The full article can be read over at Playbill.

Another fantastic batch of additional photos have been added to the photo gallery. Featured are editorial photographs from the 1970s to the most recent promotion for “Don’t Look Up”, production stills for Meryl’s theatre work in “The Cherry Orchard” and “Taken in Marriage” as well for “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “Still of the Night” and “Little Women” as well as more group shots from the taping of 1991’s “Voices that Care”. There’s also a new video that Meryl did in 2017 for the The Congolese Women’s Forum for Peace and Security, which can be found in the video archive. For a complete overview, have a look at the previews below. Enjoy your Sunday.