According to Variety, Netflix’s “The Prom” is another awards season hopeful that could crack multiple acting categories. In an exclusive to Variety, Netflix has confirmed the acting submissions for the upcoming Academy Awards. Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep and newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman will be submitted for lead actress, while Emmy winner James Corden will seek consideration in lead actor. Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells will be submitted in the supporting actor categories. Ariana DeBose, Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman and Emmy-winner Kerry Washington will look for love in supporting actress. Adapted from the Broadway musical, “The Prom” tells the story of a troupe of self-obsessed theater stars who swarm into a conservative Indiana town to support a high-school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to prom. The acting category submissions for “The Prom” match the Broadway production, which was nominated for seven Tony awards in 2019. It garnered three acting nominations for Caitlin Kinnunen and Beth Leavel in best leading actress in a musical, which mirror Pellman and Streep’s roles, along with Brooks Ashmanskas for best leading actor, which Corden portrays. The best actress race is very competitive this year, with many former winners delivering outstanding performances, like Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Sophia Loren (“The Life Ahead”) and Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”). With Pellman campaigned alongside her in her feature film debut, she’s likely to face an uphill climb. Double nominations in the best actress category have only happened five times in Academy history. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who were both nominated for “Thelma and Louise” in 1991, was the last occurrence. A similar arduous path seems likely for Corden, although the HFPA may bite for this picture in a big way. Directed by Ryan Murphy, the film is written by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin, who also co-wrote the musical book. “The Prom” will be released on Netflix on Dec. 11.

The promotion for “The Prom” is slowly starting – and while we’re still waiting for a full trailer, posters etc., Variety makes the start with an interview with director Ryan Murphy, who talks about shooting during the pandemic and discovering Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose. Murphy saw a January 2019 Broadway production of “The Prom” at the Longacre Theatre, and he knew right away that he wanted to make a film adaptation under his production deal at Netflix. Very quickly, it received the green light. By early February he had all the actors, producers and a plan to begin filming in December. By shooting time, the Broadway production had already closed, not recouping its investment of $13.5 million, but still, Murphy wanted to bring its positive message to the Netflix global community. In an interview with Variety, Murphy spoke about the journey of getting the musical adaptation to the screen. In his third directorial feature, Murphy, a six-time Emmy winner, has found the perfect vehicle that marries all his creative expressions with this musically moving material. After he saw the Broadway show, Murphy reached out to his first choices, which included James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Kerry Washington, and pitched the idea to them. Within one week, the four actors were on board. The full article can be read Variety – don’t miss Murphy’s quote on a new song written especially for Meryl Streep.

We wrote a song that was a sad song, but it didn’t fit with the tone of the movie. And then we got to the end of the movie, with the end-credit design sequence. When I saw that, I think we needed an end-credit song that’s about the women. It’s about the female power in the film. I told the songwriting team and the composer, “Let’s do something upbeat, that we can send people out in a celebratory fashion, and let’s have all the women do the vocal tracks. Furthermore, let’s have Meryl Streep rap.” They were like “What?” I said, “I want her to rap. I need her to rap.” They laughed, and they went off and wrote the song “Wear Your Crown,” and it’s optimistic and makes you feel good. It has a message of fighting intolerance and being proud of who you are. We wanted to leave young people with that feeling. I think Meryl fans are going to go crazy for it. I have a video of Meryl rapping. She was so good that we used her first take, which just goes to show you there’s nothing that Meryl Streep cannot do. (Ryan Murphy, Variety, November 16, 2020)

Early December will be early Christmas for all Streep fans – not that we don’t deserve an extra dose of blessings this year. HBO Max has finally released the trailer for “Let Them All Talk”, which will premiere, wait for it, on December 10, a day before Netflix releases “The Prom”. Steven Soderbergh’s film stars Meryl Streep as Alice, an award-winning author whose two oldest friends (Candice Bergen and Dianne Wiest) join her on a voyage across the Atlantic. As the three actresses revealed to EW earlier this year, the film was shot in just two weeks aboard the Queen Mary 2 in 2019, with the actors improvising almost all of their dialogue. “They would give us the outlines of a situation, and then we knew where we had to end up,” Streep explained. “But they didn’t tell us how to get there.” “When it was over, I thought for a while that I had dreamt doing the movie,” Bergen added. “It was over so quickly.” “Let Them All Talk” also stars Lucas Hedges as Alice’s nephew and Gemma Chan as her agent. The gabfest is the first in a series of projects for HBO Max and HBO from the prolific Soderbergh, who has already begun shooting his next movie for the streaming service, a crime film titled No Sudden Move. You can watch the trailer above and in the video archive. Screencaptures, along with the film’s poster, have been added to the photo gallery.

According to Yahoo, Meryl Streep is showing her support for the freedom of the press by honoring Amal Clooney at the prestigious CPJ International Press Freedom Awards. The Oscar-winning actress, 71, will present the human rights lawyer, 42, with the 2020 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award during an online award ceremony on Nov. 19. The award ceremony will showcase the work of this year’s awardees — which include four journalists from Bangladesh, Iran, Nigeria and Russia who have faced arrest or prosecution for their work. Streep will highlight Clooney’s work as counsel for many journalists under threat.

In times of unprecedented uncertainty, it’s journalists who are out there, gathering the facts and trying to help us make sense of it all. By asking tough questions, and pursuing the truth at any cost, they are essential workers – serving the public and protecting democracy. That’s why I’m proud to take part in this year’s International Press Freedom Awards and to continue supporting the vital work of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Clooney will also be interviewed by reporter and 2018 Gwen Ifill Awardee Maria Ressa. The lawyer previously defended Ressa when she was persecuted in her home country of the Philippines for reporting on government corruption. The award ceremony will be hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. He’ll be joined by several other notable journalists such as Christiane Amanpour, Margaret Brennan, David Muir, Yamiche Alcindor and others. Rosamund Pike, Samantha Bee and journalist Ronan Farrow will be included in calls to support press freedom. The 2020 International Press Freedom Awards will be broadcast online at www.ipfa2020.org as well as NBC News, CBS News and ABC News on Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. EST.

The New York Times has an in-depth article on Hollywood’s recent revival of musicals, with a focus on the upcoming “The Prom”. The complete artcile can be read over at their website: On a sun-nuzzled February morning earlier this year, “The Prom,” Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of the Tony-nominated musical, prepared for a location shoot in a high school gym on the eastern edge of Hollywood. Basketball hoops kissed the ceiling. Rubber matting and webs of cables carpeted the floor. Beside the snack tables, James Corden, Kerry Washington and Meryl Streep, in a wig the red of a cocktail cherry, practiced a dance number, sashaying through the same steps at not quite the same time. The filmmaking, Corden said, once he had spun his final spin, had been amazing, joyous, nearly as much fun as “Cats,” particularly these song and dance rehearsals. “You feel like you might be in the greatest touring production of all time,” he said. The stage version of “The Prom,” a story of a young woman who wants to take her girlfriend to a school dance and the Broadway stars who debatably come to her aid, has scheduled an actual tour for January, Covid-19 permitting. That’s a little more than a month after Netflix releases Murphy’s film, which tells the same tale with a starrier cast, fancier sets, delirious wigs and an orchestra that includes four French horns, four more than the Broadway pit could afford.

I’ve added all recent virtual performances that Meryl Streep has participated in. 2020 has been short of public appearances, for obvious reasons, but we’ve been able to catch Meryl Streep in online appearances more than ever. Among the additions are her most recent appearance on Bette Midler’s “Hocus Pocus” Hulaween Special to benefit the New York Restoration Project, The Public Theater’s tribute to Sam Waterston, the Kageno Virtual Harambee and a recent tribute by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Have a look at all added videos below. Screencaptures from all appearances have been added as well. Enjoy, and please, stay safe everybody.

The first trailer for Ryan Murphy’s “The Prom,” the star-stuffed movie musical adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, has landed from Netflix. Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, Keegan-Michael Key, and many more headline this flashy song-and-dance movie, which arrives on the streaming platform December 11. Watch the new look at the film below. The Broadway musical comedy follows a group of washed up Broadway actors who help a lesbian go to prom as part of a PR stunt. Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep), a two-time Tony Award winner, pairs up with Barry Glickman (James Corden) in a musical about First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt that’s a total flop. They each receive career-killing reviews, and decide to revive their reputations by throwing their weight behind a charity cause. They’re joined by veteran Broadway chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman), along with out-of-luck actor Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells), in boosting Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman), a high-school senior barred from bringing her girlfriend to the prom. Production was halted on the film on March 12, but resumed on July 23. The Broadway edition, with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Bob Martin and Beguelin, bowed in New York on October 2018 after launching in Atlanta in 2016. The musical was nominated for six Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Musical, though it didn’t win any of them. “The Prom” premieres on Netflix December 11. Screencaptures from the teaser trailer have been added as well.

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are getting the Sanderson Sisters back together later this month, 27 years after the Halloween cult classic for a virtual “Hocus Pocus” reunion, Midler announced Sunday. The live event, “In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover,” takes place Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. ET. “Join me! For a marvelous one night only reunion with the Sanderson Sisters and some of our favorite friends,” Midler tweeted Sunday. In addition to the trio of stars, the reunion features Elvira, Mistress of the Dark as the host and a deluge of famous faces including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kenan Thompson, John Stamos, Glenn Close, George Lopez, Martin Short, Adam Lambert, Michael Kors, Todrick Hall and more. Hulaween is part of Midler’s annual fundraiser for the New York Restoration Project, her organization dedicated to improving New York City’s infrastructure and greenery.

*This is a one-time showing.* The show will not broadcast again after the listed date and time. Join us as Ms. Midler reunites with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy for “In Search of The Sanderson Sisters, A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover” hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and featuring: Glenn Close, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Debney, Samantha Diaz, Harry Guinness, Todrick Hall, Jennifer Hudson, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Michael Kors, Adam Lambert, George Lopez, Alex Moffat, Vanessa Shaw, Martin Short, Sarah Silverman, John Stamos, Meryl Streep, Kenan Thompson, Sophie von Haselberg, and other surprise guests. Reserve your spot today for our one-hour virtual evening event on Friday, October 30! Your personalized access link will be emailed to you in advance of the event, and we will keep you informed of all the Hocus Pocus fun we have in store leading up to the big night. The broadcast will include closed captions in English and can be streamed worldwide

Tickets can be ordered over at Midler’s New York Restoration Project website. Tickets cost $10 and all proceeds go toward the NYRP, according to the website.

Entertainment Tonight has a fantastic interview with Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen and Dianne Wiest for Steven Soderbergh’s December-confirmed HBO Max film “Let Them All Talk”: Dianne Wiest sits demurely, a bookshelf behind her, broadcasting from her computer. Meryl Streep leans against a white brick wall, her iPhone at arm’s length. Candice Bergen reclines on her couch, holding her iPad over her head. For his latest film Let Them All Talk, director Steven Soderbergh put the three acting legends on a ship and, well, let them all talk. So it only made sense for EW to do the same — albeit over Zoom, rather than at sea. The ensuing conversation will mark their first extended discussion of the mysterious movie, which arrives on HBO Max in December. Scripted (sort of; more on that in a minute) by beloved short-story writer Deborah Eisenberg, Let Them All Talk stars Streep as an acclaimed novelist who’s summoned to the U.K. to receive an award. She invites two of her oldest friends (Bergen and Wiest) and her nephew (Lucas Hedges) to join her on a voyage aboard the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner, setting up a gabfest filled with reminiscence, regret, and repartee. As it happens, that also describes EW’s roundtable with the actresses. But at first, they’re just giddy to see each other again, discussing vacation spots and the California wildfires before Bergen gets things back on track. “You’re trying to get things started here,” she says with a chuckle. And so we do.

Meryl, how does playing, for lack of a better word, a regular person like this character differ from some of your more transformative roles?
I didn’t think she was so regular. I mean, to me, she was a rara avis. She’s a really weird bird. A real intellectual, which I am not. People like that sort of intimidate me, and so it’s great fun to imagine what it’d be like to have those standards of thought, and those aspirations, and to have a poetic soul, which I think she did, and the selfishness of real, true artists. People that don’t have kids and concerns that pull them into the real world. People that have been able to just live in the sort of miasma of their own imagination and anxieties and terrors. That’s her, and at this particular moment of her life, especially so. Her regrets and her desires to figure things out — it’s stuff you can relate to after 70, certainly, if you’re lucky enough to get there.

The complete interview can be read over at Entertainment Weekly and in our press archive.

According to Variety, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Timothee Chalamet will join Jennifer Lawrence in the star-studded cast of “Don’t Look Up,” a new Netflix comedy from Adam McKay. Jonah Hill and Himesh Patel will also star, along with Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi and Matthew Perry. As previously announced, Cate Blanchett and Rob Morgan are part of the cast. McKay, the filmmaker behind “Step Brothers,” “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights” and “The Big Short,” wrote and directed “Don’t Look Up,” which follows two low-level astronomers who embark on a media tour to warn mankind of an impending asteroid that could destroy the planet. Lawrence and DiCaprio are expected to play the two astronomers, but Netflix would not confirm. The movie is scheduled to start filming before the end of the year. McKay is also producing the film with Kevin Messick under McKay’s Hyperobject Industries banner. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.